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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 120 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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. band — a ring
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. field — for sport
  5. bat — the animal
  6. vault — an arched ceiling
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. band — a music group
  9. file — a line of people
  10. file — a document
  11. cell — a phone
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. cell — in biology
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. vault — a safe
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. vault — in gymnastics
  19. field — a subject
  20. field — farmland
  21. branch — a division
  22. bore — to drill
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. bore — to tire

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