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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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. You can't go backstage without a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. bat — the animal
  3. spring — a coil
  4. ball — a dance
  5. hand — help
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. spring — the season
  9. cell — a phone
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. pass — to succeed
  14. cell — in biology
  15. hand — in cards
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. ball — a great time
  20. spring — of water
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. pass — a permit

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