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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. cold — not warm
  3. root — the cause
  4. cold — an illness
  5. drill — a practice
  6. drill — army training
  7. root — of a word
  8. root — of a plant
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. hand — in cards
  11. bank — for money
  12. file — a tool
  13. bank — of a river
  14. bat — the animal
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. drill — the tool
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. file — a document
  20. hand — help
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. bank — for money
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. file — a line of people

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