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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. The tickets are free of ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. last — to go on
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. land — ground
  5. charge — in control
  6. net — after costs
  7. land — to come down
  8. pop — soda
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — an illness
  11. pop — music
  12. charge — electricity
  13. fan — to cool the air
  14. net — in sport
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. net — for catching
  17. charge — a price
  18. last — finally
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. land — a country
  22. cold — not warm
  23. last — final
  24. pop — to visit

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