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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 120 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: net · bat · arm · nail · land · file · sharp · last

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  3. The ________________ went through the wall.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. My father caught me by the ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. nail — on a finger
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. land — a country
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. file — a line of people
  7. last — finally
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. land — ground
  11. net — in sport
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. file — a document
  14. file — a tool
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. land — to come down
  20. bat — the animal
  21. sharp — clever
  22. last — to go on
  23. net — after costs
  24. net — for catching

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