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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: fork · cell · toast · clip · hand · bulb · bat · chest

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  7. I've got to change the light ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  19. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. clip — a video
  3. hand — in cards
  4. chest — of your body
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. fork — to eat with
  7. bulb — for light
  8. clip — to cut
  9. bulb — of a plant
  10. bat — the animal
  11. toast — bread
  12. cell — a phone
  13. cell — in biology
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. bulb — for light
  17. chest — of your body
  18. toast — the most admired
  19. toast — a drink to someone
  20. chest — a box
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. fork — in a road
  24. hand — help

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