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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. cold — not warm
  4. hand — help
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. foot — a measure
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. bat — the animal
  10. current — electric
  11. current — happening now
  12. file — a document
  13. file — a line of people
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. current — of water
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. file — a tool
  21. game — a match
  22. cold — an illness
  23. hand — in cards
  24. foot — the bottom

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