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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. race — the arms race
  4. dip — to sink
  5. swing — to play on
  6. chest — of your body
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. bat — the animal
  10. band — a ring
  11. chest — a box
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. band — a music group
  14. cell — a phone
  15. swing — in golf
  16. chest — of your body
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. race — a contest
  20. cell — in biology
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. swing — music
  23. race — humankind
  24. band — a rubber band

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