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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  13. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. can — to be able to
  3. court — of law
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. cold — not warm
  7. scale — size or range
  8. jam — in traffic
  9. bat — the animal
  10. can — a tin
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. jam — to spread on bread
  13. jam — a tight spot
  14. scale — in music
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. court — for sport
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. court — of a king
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. stem — to come from
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. can — a tin
  24. cold — an illness

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