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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. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. land — ground
  3. scale — size or range
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. rest — a break
  7. squash — to crush
  8. snap — to click
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. cold — an illness
  11. rest — what's left
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. bat — the animal
  14. scale — in music
  15. squash — the sport
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. rest — what's left
  22. land — a country
  23. land — to come down
  24. cold — not warm

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