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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. bass — low music
  3. shower — to wash
  4. march — music
  5. shower — rain
  6. safe — a strongbox
  7. tube — a container
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bass — the fish
  10. bat — the animal
  11. safe — out of danger
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. file — a document
  14. file — a line of people
  15. tube — the underground
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. safe — out of danger
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. march — the month
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. mine — for digging
  23. march — the month
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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