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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: bat · file · present · pop · mine · key · hand · tear

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. This piece is in a major ________________.
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. hand — in cards
  3. key — in music
  4. key — the most important part
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. key — for a lock
  8. tear — to rip
  9. tear — from crying
  10. hand — help
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. file — a line of people
  13. pop — soda
  14. file — a document
  15. file — a tool
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. pop — music
  18. mine — for digging
  19. present — a gift
  20. present — the time now
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. tear — from crying
  23. bat — the animal
  24. pop — to visit

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