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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. What do you think of the new ________________?
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. last — final
  3. cell — a phone
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. cold — not warm
  8. squash — the sport
  9. cabinet — ministers
  10. spell — a short time
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. last — to go on
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. spell — letters
  18. bat — the animal
  19. spell — magic
  20. squash — to crush
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. last — finally
  24. cell — in biology

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