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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 120 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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. My mare is ________________ in color.
  7. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. cell — a phone
  3. fine — high quality
  4. row — a line
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. bay — a horse colour
  7. bay — a part of the sea
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. row — to paddle
  10. cold — an illness
  11. bay — to keep at bay
  12. pitch — completely
  13. cell — in biology
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. fine — all right
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. fine — a penalty
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. bat — the animal
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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