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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. The tickets are free of ________________.
  10. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. file — a line of people
  3. degree — an amount
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. degree — from a university
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. tear — from crying
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. charge — a price
  10. charge — electricity
  11. bat — the animal
  12. tear — from crying
  13. degree — temperature
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. net — after costs
  16. mine — for digging
  17. file — a document
  18. tear — to rip
  19. file — a tool
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. net — in sport
  22. net — for catching
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. charge — in control

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