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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. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — animal skin
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. rush — hurry
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. spring — the season
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. pit — a hole
  8. clip — to cut
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. degree — temperature
  12. bat — the animal
  13. fall — the season
  14. fall — to drop
  15. pit — in a race
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — of water
  18. degree — an amount
  19. degree — from a university
  20. clip — a video
  21. fall — to drop
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. clip — for paper

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