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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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. band — a music group
  4. land — a country
  5. land — ground
  6. bat — the animal
  7. clip — for paper
  8. rule — a law
  9. file — a tool
  10. clip — to cut
  11. rule — government
  12. rush — hurry
  13. file — a document
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. land — to come down
  18. clip — a video
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. file — a line of people
  21. rest — a break
  22. rest — what's left
  23. rest — what's left
  24. band — a ring

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