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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. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  20. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  21. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. safe — out of danger
  3. wound — an injury
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. cold — not warm
  8. file — a document
  9. wound — an injury
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. bat — the animal
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. safe — a strongbox
  14. saw — the tool
  15. saw — the tool
  16. safe — out of danger
  17. snap — to click
  18. file — a tool
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. saw — past of 'see'
  21. coach — pulled by horses
  22. file — a line of people
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. cold — an illness

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