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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 girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. tube — the underground
  3. sharp — clever
  4. cell — a phone
  5. net — after costs
  6. net — for catching
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. bat — the animal
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. pit — a hole
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. tube — a container
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. net — in sport
  19. pit — in a race
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. row — to paddle
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. cell — in biology

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