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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. club — for golf
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. bat — the animal
  6. file — a tool
  7. hand — in cards
  8. lie — an untruth
  9. drill — the tool
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. drill — army training
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. lie — to recline
  14. file — a line of people
  15. club — for dancing
  16. drill — a practice
  17. file — a document
  18. club — a group

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