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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 120 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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  8. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. I can't ________________ this cold.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. file — a line of people
  3. file — a tool
  4. chest — of your body
  5. pit — in a race
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. stand — for spectators
  8. pit — a hole
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. swing — to play on
  11. chest — of your body
  12. stand — to bear
  13. clip — to cut
  14. rule — a law
  15. rule — government
  16. swing — music
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. file — a document
  19. clip — a video
  20. bat — the animal
  21. chest — a box
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. swing — in golf
  24. bat — in an idiom

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