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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 116 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: net · cold · wound · tear · chip · spring · charge · kid

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  14. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  15. The tickets are free of ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. chip — in a computer
  3. wound — an injury
  4. cold — not warm
  5. chip — for betting
  6. net — in sport
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. spring — a coil
  10. cold — an illness
  11. kid — child
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. charge — in control
  14. charge — electricity
  15. charge — a price
  16. tear — to rip
  17. spring — the season
  18. wound — an injury
  19. net — for catching
  20. net — after costs
  21. spring — of water
  22. kid — to tease
  23. chip — to eat
  24. tear — from crying

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