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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. kid — to tease
  4. bank — for money
  5. file — a tool
  6. date — the fruit
  7. bat — the animal
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. kid — child
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. clip — to cut
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. fork — in a road
  14. bank — for money
  15. band — a music group
  16. clip — a video
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. band — a ring
  20. bank — of a river
  21. file — a line of people
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. file — a document

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