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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. hand — in cards
  4. capital — a city
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. rule — a law
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. file — a line of people
  10. land — ground
  11. hand — help
  12. rule — government
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. file — a tool
  16. land — a country
  17. capital — money
  18. patient — calm and waiting
  19. bat — the animal
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. land — to come down
  23. patient — a sick person
  24. bat — for baseball

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