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

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. bat — the animal
  3. file — a document
  4. cue — a signal
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. chest — of your body
  8. chest — of your body
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. cue — for pool
  12. rash — a series
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. plane — a tool
  15. cue — a hint
  16. content — happy
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. chest — a box
  22. rash — hasty
  23. file — a line of people
  24. content — the amount

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