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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: fan · bat · file · mug · prune · fall · game · land

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Where did you ________________ them?
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  21. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. prune — to trim
  3. game — a match
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. prune — to trim
  7. land — a country
  8. bat — the animal
  9. game — wild animals
  10. mug — a cup
  11. land — ground
  12. file — a tool
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. fall — the season
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. mug — to rob
  18. file — a document
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. mug — a face
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. fall — to drop
  23. file — a line of people
  24. fall — to drop

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