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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  3. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  13. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. staff — a stick
  3. present — there
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. cold — an illness
  7. bat — the animal
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. sharp — clever
  10. rock — music
  11. rock — a stone
  12. rock — to move gently
  13. staff — employees
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. cold — not warm
  16. present — the time now
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. staff — employees
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. leaves — of a tree

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