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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 water is too ________________.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  21. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  22. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. ________________ games are popular in Germany.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. file — a tool
  3. board — to get on
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. cold — an illness
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. bat — the animal
  9. bass — low music
  10. file — a line of people
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. hand — help
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. board — a committee
  17. file — a document
  18. hand — in cards
  19. bass — the fish
  20. safe — out of danger
  21. safe — out of danger
  22. safe — a strongbox
  23. branch — a division
  24. board — a flat piece

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