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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.

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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: fan · fork · lean · race · capital · file · bat · tear

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. He is as ________________ as a wolf.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. capital — a city
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. race — humankind
  6. tear — from crying
  7. race — a contest
  8. file — a document
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. fork — in a road
  11. tear — from crying
  12. capital — money
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. file — a line of people
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. race — the arms race
  18. tear — to rip
  19. lean — to bend
  20. bat — the animal
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. file — a tool
  24. lean — thin

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