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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. file — a line of people
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. rash — a series
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. sharp — clever
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. plane — a tool
  13. drill — army training
  14. file — a tool
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. squash — the sport
  17. cold — an illness
  18. squash — to crush
  19. drill — a practice
  20. rash — hasty
  21. file — a document
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. bat — the animal

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