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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. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — high quality
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. bat — the animal
  4. cold — an illness
  5. content — happy
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. cold — not warm
  8. drill — army training
  9. fall — to drop
  10. chip — to eat
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. drill — the tool
  16. saw — the tool
  17. content — the amount
  18. drill — a practice
  19. fall — the season
  20. chip — for betting
  21. fall — to drop
  22. fine — all right
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. saw — the tool

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