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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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Word bank
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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: last · land · clip · bulb · mate · shower · nail · chip

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. I've got to change the light ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. The light ________________ burned out.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. chip — in a computer
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. mate — a friend
  5. last — final
  6. bulb — of a plant
  7. land — ground
  8. land — to come down
  9. chip — to eat
  10. mate — to breed
  11. clip — to cut
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. shower — rain
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. mate — a partner
  16. bulb — for light
  17. land — a country
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — a video
  20. last — finally
  21. chip — for betting
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. last — to go on
  24. bulb — for light

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