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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. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  19. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. rest — a break
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. kick — in football
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. sharp — clever
  9. file — a tool
  10. rest — what's left
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. perch — the fish
  13. file — a document
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. racket — for tennis
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. bat — the animal
  24. file — a line of people

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