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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: wind · can · tear · file · board · land · swing · bat

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  21. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  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. swing — to play on
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. land — to come down
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. tear — to rip
  6. tear — from crying
  7. swing — in golf
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. tear — from crying
  10. can — to be able to
  11. board — a committee
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. file — a document
  14. land — ground
  15. file — a line of people
  16. wind — moving air
  17. land — a country
  18. wind — moving air
  19. bat — the animal
  20. can — a tin
  21. can — a tin
  22. board — to get on
  23. swing — music
  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