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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. bat — the animal
  3. rash — a series
  4. wind — moving air
  5. rash — on the skin
  6. last — final
  7. rest — what's left
  8. last — finally
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. spring — of water
  11. spring — a coil
  12. rest — what's left
  13. fall — to drop
  14. swing — in golf
  15. fall — to drop
  16. last — to go on
  17. wind — moving air
  18. rest — a break
  19. rash — hasty
  20. fall — the season
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. swing — to play on
  23. swing — music
  24. spring — the season

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