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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  8. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. bat — the animal
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. rush — hurry
  5. cold — not warm
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. date — the fruit
  8. jam — in traffic
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. snap — to click
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. jam — a tight spot
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. ball — a great time
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. jam — to spread on bread
  19. wind — moving air
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. wind — moving air
  22. ball — a dance
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. date — on the calendar

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