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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  14. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. drill — the tool
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. drill — a practice
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. date — the fruit
  8. face — part of the head
  9. face — to confront
  10. race — a contest
  11. bat — the animal
  12. chair — a leader
  13. foot — a measure
  14. foot — part of the body
  15. drill — army training
  16. file — a line of people
  17. face — to point toward
  18. race — humankind
  19. foot — the bottom
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. file — a tool
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. race — the arms race
  24. file — a document

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