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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: band · rule · cabinet · pass · bat · nail · cold · file

  1. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The ________________ went through the wall.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  19. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. band — a ring
  6. file — a line of people
  7. pass — to spend time
  8. cold — an illness
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. rule — a law
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. nail — for a hammer
  15. file — a document
  16. rule — government
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. cabinet — ministers
  19. pass — a permit
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bat — the animal
  23. band — a music group
  24. file — a tool

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