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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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  17. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  22. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  23. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. lean — to bend
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. season — of the year
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. cold — not warm
  7. lean — thin
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. ball — a dance
  12. game — a match
  13. craft — boats
  14. cold — an illness
  15. bat — the animal
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. season — in sport
  19. craft — a handicraft
  20. game — wild animals
  21. craft — a skill
  22. lean — to rest against
  23. ruler — a monarch
  24. ball — a round shape

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