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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: mine · foot · bat · mouse · staff · hand · land · file

  1. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. foot — part of the body
  2. staff — a stick
  3. land — to come down
  4. mine — for digging
  5. land — ground
  6. staff — employees
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. file — a document
  9. foot — a measure
  10. bat — the animal
  11. file — a line of people
  12. hand — help
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. foot — the bottom
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. file — a tool
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. hand — in cards
  21. mouse — for a computer
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. staff — employees
  24. land — a country

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