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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. I can't ________________ this cold.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  17. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. stand — to bear
  3. spell — letters
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. stand — for spectators
  6. row — to paddle
  7. race — the arms race
  8. rule — government
  9. rule — a law
  10. bat — the animal
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. clip — for paper
  14. clip — to cut
  15. race — humankind
  16. race — a contest
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. clip — a video
  19. row — a line
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. spell — magic
  23. spell — a short time
  24. pitcher — in 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