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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: drill · mug · clip · pit · rest · file · game · bat

  1. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Where did you ________________ them?
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. game — a match
  3. clip — for paper
  4. file — a tool
  5. pit — in a race
  6. clip — to cut
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. file — a document
  11. drill — the tool
  12. drill — army training
  13. rest — what's left
  14. mug — a face
  15. file — a line of people
  16. clip — a video
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. bat — the animal
  19. mug — to rob
  20. game — wild animals
  21. mug — a cup
  22. rest — what's left
  23. drill — a practice
  24. pit — a hole

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