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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 had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. The tickets are free of ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. cold — an illness
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. charge — a price
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. charge — in control
  7. drill — a practice
  8. degree — an amount
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. charge — electricity
  11. cold — not warm
  12. wake — a trail
  13. drill — the tool
  14. cap — a lid
  15. degree — from a university
  16. degree — temperature
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. bat — the animal
  19. drill — army training
  20. spell — a short time
  21. spell — magic
  22. cap — of ice
  23. spell — letters
  24. cap — a hat

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