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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 116 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 King held a masked ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. Where did you ________________ them?
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. bat — the animal
  3. pitch — completely
  4. kid — to tease
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. mug — a cup
  8. kid — child
  9. ball — a great time
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. mug — a face
  13. shower — to wash
  14. mug — to rob
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. cold — not warm
  18. can — a tin
  19. shower — rain
  20. can — a tin
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. can — to be able to
  23. cold — an illness
  24. bat — in an idiom

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