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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. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. bat — the animal
  3. foot — part of the body
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. pass — to spend time
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. court — of law
  8. rule — a law
  9. rule — government
  10. court — of a king
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. pass — a permit
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. branch — a division
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. cold — an illness
  17. file — a document
  18. file — a line of people
  19. court — for sport
  20. foot — a measure
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. file — a tool
  23. cold — not warm
  24. foot — the bottom

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