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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. scale — size or range
  3. sharp — clever
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. file — a line of people
  6. rash — hasty
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. file — a document
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. rest — what's left
  11. scale — in music
  12. file — a tool
  13. bat — the animal
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. rest — a break
  16. prune — to trim
  17. rest — what's left
  18. land — ground
  19. prune — to trim
  20. land — a country
  21. rash — a series
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. bat — in an idiom

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