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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. hand — help
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. track — a song
  6. track — a path
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. file — a line of people
  10. hand — in cards
  11. scale — in music
  12. jam — in traffic
  13. file — a tool
  14. scale — size or range
  15. track — to keep track
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. jam — a tight spot
  18. file — a document
  19. jam — to spread on bread
  20. dip — to sink
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. mine — for digging
  23. bat — the animal
  24. hand — part of the body

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