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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: file · hide · lean · last · bat · cue · race · rest

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. race — humankind
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. cue — for pool
  5. lean — thin
  6. file — a tool
  7. rest — what's left
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. last — to go on
  10. cue — a signal
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. last — finally
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. race — the arms race
  16. cue — a hint
  17. race — a contest
  18. bat — the animal
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. file — a document
  21. last — final
  22. rest — a break
  23. rest — what's left
  24. file — a line of people

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