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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  7. The ________________ went through the wall.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  15. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in a prison
  2. hand — help
  3. fall — the season
  4. bat — the animal
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. wave — a sudden rise
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. swing — to play on
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. kid — to tease
  11. fall — to drop
  12. cell — a phone
  13. swing — music
  14. wave — of the sea
  15. nail — on a finger
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. fall — to drop
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. hand — in cards
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. swing — in golf
  23. cell — in biology
  24. kid — child

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