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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: chest · bat · file · bulb · hand · march

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. The light ________________ burned out.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. chest — a box
  3. hand — in cards
  4. file — a tool
  5. file — a document
  6. hand — help
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. bulb — of a plant
  9. march — the month
  10. file — a line of people
  11. bulb — for light
  12. bulb — for light
  13. chest — of your body
  14. chest — of your body
  15. march — the month
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. bat — the animal
  18. march — music

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