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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. Have you met the new head ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. kid — child
  3. coach — pulled by horses
  4. file — a line of people
  5. nail — on a finger
  6. mine — for digging
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. file — a tool
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. file — a document
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. branch — a division
  21. rule — a law
  22. rule — government
  23. kid — to tease
  24. coach — a trainer

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