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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 ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  9. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  10. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. court — of law
  2. file — a document
  3. fine — all right
  4. bat — the animal
  5. court — for sport
  6. file — a tool
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. fine — a penalty
  9. fine — high quality
  10. bank — of a river
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. bank — for money
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. bank — for money
  15. file — a line of people
  16. row — to paddle
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. row — a line
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. stem — to come from
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. court — of a king
  24. straw — a straw man

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