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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 water is too ________________.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  4. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. file — a line of people
  3. bank — for money
  4. bank — for money
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. file — a tool
  7. file — a document
  8. bank — of a river
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. net — after costs
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. rest — what's left
  15. bat — the animal
  16. sharp — clever
  17. rest — what's left
  18. cold — an illness
  19. rest — a break
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. net — for catching
  22. net — in sport
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bat — in an idiom

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