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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: pit · race · bat · file · board · court · cold · ruler

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  17. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  21. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. court — of a king
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. file — a tool
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. cold — an illness
  7. court — for sport
  8. bat — the animal
  9. board — a committee
  10. pit — a hole
  11. race — the arms race
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. court — of law
  14. race — humankind
  15. race — a contest
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. ruler — a monarch
  18. pit — in a race
  19. file — a line of people
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. board — a flat piece
  22. board — to get on
  23. file — a document
  24. cold — not warm

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