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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: rock · wax · bat · stick · sharp · club · file · cold

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. bat — the animal
  3. sharp — clever
  4. file — a line of people
  5. club — for golf
  6. cold — an illness
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. file — a tool
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. rock — music
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. file — a document
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. rock — a stone
  18. club — a group
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. wax — to grow
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. club — for dancing

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