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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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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: file · bat · row · pitcher · dip · snap · mine · game

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. bat — the animal
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. row — a line
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. game — wild animals
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. dip — to sink
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. game — a match
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. row — to paddle
  17. mine — for digging
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. file — a tool
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. file — a line of people
  23. snap — to click
  24. file — a document

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