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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: wake · bat · chest · file · pop · mine · nail · current

  1. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  18. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. chest — of your body
  3. pop — to visit
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. wake — a trail
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. chest — of your body
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. file — a document
  11. current — of water
  12. pop — music
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. bat — the animal
  15. file — a tool
  16. mine — for digging
  17. current — happening now
  18. current — electric
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. nail — on a finger
  21. file — a line of people
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. chest — a box
  24. pop — soda

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