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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. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. Have you settled on a ________________?
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. date — the fruit
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. wind — moving air
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. drill — army training
  11. wind — moving air
  12. mark — a trace
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. chair — a leader
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. drill — the tool
  18. drill — a practice
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. game — wild animals
  21. game — a match
  22. bark — to shout
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. mark — a grade

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