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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 116 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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. rest — what's left
  3. cold — an illness
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. march — the month
  7. bear — the animal
  8. bat — the animal
  9. file — a document
  10. file — a tool
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. present — a gift
  13. present — there
  14. march — the month
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bear — the animal
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. rest — what's left
  19. rest — a break
  20. file — a line of people
  21. cold — not warm
  22. present — the time now
  23. march — music
  24. bear — to put up with

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