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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. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  13. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. prune — to trim
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. prune — to trim
  6. mine — for digging
  7. cold — an illness
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. board — to get on
  10. bat — the animal
  11. snap — to click
  12. board — a committee
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. rule — government
  18. rule — a law
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. cabinet — a cupboard
  24. cold — not warm

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