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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. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. I can't ________________ this cold.
  5. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. stand — to bear
  5. pound — to hit hard
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. stand — on your feet
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. game — wild animals
  10. pound — a weight
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. file — a document
  13. kid — to tease
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. bat — the animal
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. plane — a tool
  20. game — a match
  21. pit — in a race
  22. file — a tool
  23. file — a line of people
  24. kid — child

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