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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 116 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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. net — for catching
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. cell — a phone
  5. bat — the animal
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. file — a line of people
  8. spring — the season
  9. sharp — clever
  10. staff — a stick
  11. net — after costs
  12. staff — employees
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. spring — a coil
  15. net — in sport
  16. file — a tool
  17. row — to paddle
  18. spring — of water
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. row — a line
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. file — a document
  23. cell — in biology
  24. staff — employees

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