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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  14. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a kind of play
  2. fall — the season
  3. fall — to drop
  4. cell — in biology
  5. fall — to drop
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cell — a phone
  8. stick — to attach or keep to
  9. game — a match
  10. scale — in music
  11. swing — to play on
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. cap — a lid
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. swing — music
  17. cold — an illness
  18. swing — in golf
  19. scale — size or range
  20. cap — a hat
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. cap — of ice
  23. game — wild animals
  24. cold — not warm

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