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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  17. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. wind — moving air
  3. staff — employees
  4. cold — an illness
  5. game — wild animals
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. cold — not warm
  9. staff — employees
  10. staff — a stick
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. plane — a tool
  14. pass — a permit
  15. fall — to drop
  16. pass — to succeed
  17. pass — to spend time
  18. bat — the animal
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. wind — moving air
  21. game — a match
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. fall — to drop
  24. fall — the season

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