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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. track — a path
  4. pop — music
  5. track — to keep track
  6. fall — to drop
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. track — a song
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. rule — a law
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. fall — the season
  16. bowl — to roll
  17. cold — an illness
  18. pop — soda
  19. wound — an injury
  20. pop — to visit
  21. cold — not warm
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. fall — to drop
  24. rule — government

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