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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. That must've been a ________________.
  17. What do you think of the new ________________?
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. object — to protest
  3. object — a thing
  4. bat — the animal
  5. rush — hurry
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — an illness
  9. object — an aim
  10. cold — not warm
  11. spell — letters
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. root — of a word
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. rush — a thrill
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. hand — help
  19. spell — a short time
  20. root — of a plant
  21. cabinet — a cupboard
  22. spell — magic
  23. root — the cause
  24. hand — in cards

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