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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: cell · chest · file · roll · bat · swing · shower · stem

  1. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a line of people
  2. chest — of your body
  3. stem — to come from
  4. file — a tool
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. swing — to play on
  7. cell — a phone
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. shower — rain
  10. bat — the animal
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. swing — in golf
  14. roll — a list
  15. roll — a cake
  16. cell — in biology
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. chest — of your body
  19. shower — to wash
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. chest — a box
  22. file — a document
  23. swing — music
  24. cell — in a prison

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