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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 120 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: bat · bore · chest · file · arm · race · cap · hand

  1. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to drill
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. bore — to tire
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. cap — a lid
  7. chest — a box
  8. race — a contest
  9. file — a tool
  10. cap — a hat
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. hand — help
  13. chest — of your body
  14. file — a line of people
  15. race — the arms race
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. cap — of ice
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. chest — of your body
  21. race — humankind
  22. file — a document
  23. hand — in cards
  24. bat — the animal

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