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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: cold · current · plane · kick · file · bat · swing · ruler

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. ruler — a monarch
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. swing — to play on
  5. file — a tool
  6. ruler — for measuring
  7. plane — a tool
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. current — happening now
  11. swing — music
  12. kick — in football
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. current — of water
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. current — electric
  17. file — a line of people
  18. swing — in golf
  19. file — a document
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. cold — an illness
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. bat — the animal
  24. ruler — for measuring

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