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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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The ________________ took off on time.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  17. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. ruler — a monarch
  3. file — a document
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. game — wild animals
  6. plane — a tool
  7. row — to paddle
  8. row — a line
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. game — a match
  11. hand — help
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. plane — an aircraft
  14. hand — in cards
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. bat — the animal
  19. file — a line of people
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. wound — an injury
  23. wound — an injury
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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