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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 asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  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. spell — magic
  2. chip — to eat
  3. spell — a short time
  4. mine — for digging
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. fall — to drop
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. wave — a sudden rise
  13. fall — the season
  14. bat — the animal
  15. spell — letters
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. cold — not warm
  18. fall — to drop
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. wave — of the sea
  22. chip — for betting
  23. chip — in a computer
  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