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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: wound · file · foot · chip · cold · craft · kid · net

  1. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. chip — in a computer
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. cold — an illness
  4. craft — a handicraft
  5. craft — boats
  6. chip — for betting
  7. wound — an injury
  8. craft — a skill
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. cold — not warm
  11. chip — to eat
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. file — a tool
  14. foot — a measure
  15. kid — child
  16. file — a line of people
  17. file — a document
  18. foot — the bottom
  19. wound — an injury
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. kid — to tease
  22. net — for catching
  23. net — in sport
  24. net — after costs

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com