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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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. pit — a hole
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. ground — a position
  6. bass — the fish
  7. bass — low music
  8. roll — a list
  9. ground — the earth
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. roll — a cake
  14. ground — crushed
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. chip — to eat
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. chip — for betting
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — an illness
  21. game — a match
  22. game — wild animals
  23. pit — in a race
  24. bat — for baseball

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