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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. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. pitch — completely
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. board — a committee
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. fall — to drop
  10. cold — an illness
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. fall — to drop
  13. saw — the tool
  14. kid — to tease
  15. bat — the animal
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. kid — child
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. board — to get on
  22. saw — the tool
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  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