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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. bowl — a dish
  5. land — to come down
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. land — a country
  8. cold — not warm
  9. rest — a break
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. bowl — a football final
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. land — ground
  14. saw — the tool
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. fork — in a road
  18. rest — what's left
  19. cold — an illness
  20. rest — what's left
  21. saw — the tool
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. date — the fruit

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