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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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  18. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. land — to come down
  3. tear — from crying
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. tear — from crying
  6. spring — a coil
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. tear — to rip
  9. cell — a phone
  10. cell — in biology
  11. ruler — for measuring
  12. dip — to sink
  13. file — a document
  14. spring — the season
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. ruler — a monarch
  19. bat — the animal
  20. file — a tool
  21. spring — of water
  22. land — a country
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. land — ground

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