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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  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. bat — for baseball
  2. file — a document
  3. roll — a cake
  4. bat — the animal
  5. spell — magic
  6. chest — of your body
  7. spell — a short time
  8. swing — to play on
  9. chest — a box
  10. last — finally
  11. last — to go on
  12. file — a tool
  13. stem — to come from
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. swing — music
  17. file — a line of people
  18. swing — in golf
  19. last — final
  20. roll — a list
  21. chest — of your body
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. spell — letters
  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