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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 120 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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. When are we going to ________________?
  19. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. stand — to bear
  3. bore — to tire
  4. object — a thing
  5. file — a line of people
  6. bat — the animal
  7. cold — not warm
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. cold — an illness
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. object — to protest
  12. object — an aim
  13. land — a country
  14. bore — gave birth
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. file — a tool
  17. wake — a trail
  18. land — to come down
  19. stand — on your feet
  20. land — ground
  21. file — a document
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bore — to drill

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