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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  3. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  6. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. bank — for money
  3. bank — for money
  4. file — a document
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. pop — music
  8. cold — not warm
  9. file — a line of people
  10. file — a tool
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. pop — to visit
  14. bank — of a river
  15. pop — soda
  16. capital — money
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. cold — an illness
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. capital — a city
  24. arm — part of the body

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