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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. file — a tool
  3. bat — the animal
  4. pop — music
  5. last — final
  6. current — happening now
  7. current — electric
  8. pop — soda
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. land — to come down
  11. current — of water
  12. net — in sport
  13. land — ground
  14. lie — to recline
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. file — a document
  17. land — a country
  18. last — to go on
  19. last — finally
  20. net — after costs
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. pop — to visit
  23. net — for catching
  24. file — a line of people

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