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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 water is too ________________.
  2. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. When was this ________________ built?
  5. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  6. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  7. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  10. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  11. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. temple — side of the head
  3. hand — help
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. bowl — a dish
  6. leaves — to go away
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. club — for golf
  9. bowl — a football final
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. leaves — lets stay
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. stick — to attach or keep to
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. hand — in cards
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. bat — the animal
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — an illness
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. club — for dancing
  23. club — a group
  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