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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. That must've been a ________________.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. When was this ________________ built?
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. bat — the animal
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. pit — a hole
  5. file — a document
  6. cold — an illness
  7. file — a line of people
  8. pit — in a race
  9. ball — a dance
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. scale — size or range
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. rush — a thrill
  15. ball — a great time
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. file — a tool
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. rush — hurry
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. scale — in music

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