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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 120 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. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — obliged
  2. bat — the animal
  3. file — a tool
  4. firm — steady
  5. cell — in biology
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. bound — certain
  8. stem — to come from
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. drill — army training
  11. capital — money
  12. firm — a company
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. bound — tied together
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. capital — a city
  18. file — a document
  19. drill — the tool
  20. cell — a phone
  21. file — a line of people
  22. drill — a practice
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. firm — decided

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