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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. bat — the animal
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. safe — out of danger
  5. saw — the tool
  6. present — there
  7. saw — the tool
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. march — the month
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. present — a gift
  15. march — the month
  16. wound — an injury
  17. file — a tool
  18. file — a line of people
  19. safe — a strongbox
  20. file — a document
  21. safe — out of danger
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. present — the time now
  24. march — music

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