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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: game · file · date · bat · bark · spring · mine · kid

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. date — the fruit
  4. game — wild animals
  5. bark — to shout
  6. file — a line of people
  7. file — a document
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. spring — a coil
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. bat — the animal
  12. kid — child
  13. mine — for digging
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. game — a match
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. spring — of water
  18. spring — the season
  19. file — a tool
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. kid — to tease

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