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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. rest — what's left
  3. bat — the animal
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. rest — what's left
  6. pass — to spend time
  7. prune — to trim
  8. ground — a position
  9. ground — the earth
  10. pass — a permit
  11. chest — a box
  12. file — a document
  13. file — a line of people
  14. rest — a break
  15. ground — crushed
  16. chest — of your body
  17. pass — to succeed
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. file — a tool
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. prune — to trim
  23. mine — for digging
  24. chest — of your body

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