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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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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: file · hand · bat · pound · craft · stick · branch · chair

  1. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  2. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  22. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a leader
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. file — a tool
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. craft — boats
  10. hand — help
  11. pound — a weight
  12. craft — a skill
  13. file — a document
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. bat — the animal
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. branch — a division
  21. stick — to attach or keep to
  22. craft — a handicraft
  23. hand — in cards
  24. file — a line of people

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