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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. Did you ________________ the meat?
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. file — a line of people
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. march — music
  8. mine — for digging
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. cell — in biology
  11. prune — to trim
  12. cell — a phone
  13. bat — the animal
  14. prune — to trim
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. season — of the year
  17. march — the month
  18. march — the month
  19. season — to add flavour
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. file — a document
  22. file — a tool
  23. season — in sport
  24. fan — to cool the air

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