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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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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: bat · lie · wind · fan · pit · game · file · patient

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  13. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. bat — the animal
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. file — a line of people
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. game — a match
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. pit — a hole
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. lie — to recline
  15. patient — calm and waiting
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wind — moving air
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. file — a tool
  21. file — a document
  22. pit — in a race
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. pit — a fruit stone

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