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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. firm — decided
  4. ball — a great time
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. season — in sport
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. ball — a round shape
  9. wind — moving air
  10. cold — an illness
  11. bat — the animal
  12. hand — in cards
  13. wind — moving air
  14. firm — a company
  15. rash — a series
  16. hand — help
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. season — of the year
  20. firm — steady
  21. rash — hasty
  22. ball — a dance
  23. cold — not warm
  24. wind — to turn a key

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