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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 information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Have you found your soul ________________?
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. We're almost out of ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. mate — to breed
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — an illness
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. bat — the animal
  7. file — a line of people
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. mate — a friend
  10. tear — from crying
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. tear — to rip
  13. calf — a young animal
  14. tear — from crying
  15. pop — music
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. mate — a partner
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. pop — to visit
  21. pop — soda
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. calf — of the leg
  24. file — a tool

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