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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  18. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. present — there
  4. present — a gift
  5. cell — a phone
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. bat — the animal
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. land — a country
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. can — a tin
  13. land — to come down
  14. fork — in a road
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. can — a tin
  18. can — to be able to
  19. rash — a series
  20. land — ground
  21. present — the time now
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. cell — in biology

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