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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 116 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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The light ________________ burned out.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. I've got to change the light ________________.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bulb — for light
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. fall — to drop
  7. deal — to handle
  8. file — a document
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. fall — to drop
  13. deal — an agreement
  14. file — a tool
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bulb — for light
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. file — a line of people
  21. rash — a series
  22. deal — a big deal
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. fall — the season

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