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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: pitcher · wound · rule · shower · chip · file · spell · game

  1. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. wound — an injury
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. chip — to eat
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. chip — for betting
  10. rule — government
  11. spell — letters
  12. shower — rain
  13. shower — to wash
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. rule — a law
  16. game — wild animals
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. file — a tool
  20. spell — magic
  21. wound — an injury
  22. file — a document
  23. game — a match
  24. spell — a short time

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