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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. When was this ________________ built?
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  21. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. hand — help
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. file — a tool
  6. file — a document
  7. present — a gift
  8. spring — of water
  9. stock — shares
  10. temple — a place of worship
  11. spring — the season
  12. present — the time now
  13. craft — boats
  14. spring — a coil
  15. file — a line of people
  16. stock — goods
  17. craft — a skill
  18. present — there
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. craft — a handicraft
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. bat — the animal
  24. temple — side of the head

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