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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. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  14. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. Would you like some apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. band — a ring
  3. staff — a stick
  4. bat — the animal
  5. foot — part of the body
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. jam — in traffic
  8. band — a music group
  9. foot — a measure
  10. rule — government
  11. file — a tool
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. staff — employees
  14. jam — a tight spot
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. file — a line of people
  19. mine — for digging
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. rule — a law
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. file — a document
  24. jam — to spread on bread

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