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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: stand · cold · band · file · cell · lash · bat · pit

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. I can't ________________ this cold.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. band — a ring
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bat — the animal
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. band — a music group
  7. cell — a phone
  8. file — a line of people
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. cold — an illness
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. cell — in biology
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. file — a tool
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. file — a document
  18. pit — a hole
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. pit — in a race
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. stand — to bear

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