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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. I've got to change the light ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. The light ________________ burned out.
  11. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The ________________ took off on time.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. last — final
  3. kid — child
  4. bulb — for light
  5. cold — an illness
  6. bat — the animal
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. kid — to tease
  10. bulb — for light
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. roll — a cake
  13. cold — not warm
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. roll — a list
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. plane — an aircraft
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. plane — a tool
  24. last — to go on

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