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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  12. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  23. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. rush — hurry
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bat — the animal
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. file — a line of people
  7. net — for catching
  8. net — after costs
  9. race — the arms race
  10. object — to protest
  11. rush — to hurry
  12. object — a thing
  13. cap — a hat
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. file — a document
  16. cap — a lid
  17. ball — a dance
  18. file — a tool
  19. cap — of ice
  20. race — a contest
  21. race — humankind
  22. object — an aim
  23. ball — a great time
  24. ball — a round shape

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