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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: mark · cold · rule · pitcher · hand · fan · file · bat

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cold — not warm
  5. file — a document
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. file — a tool
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. bat — the animal
  11. rule — a law
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. mark — a grade
  15. rule — government
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. file — a line of people
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. hand — help
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. mark — a trace
  24. hand — in cards

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