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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. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. last — to go on
  5. last — final
  6. cell — a phone
  7. cell — in biology
  8. bat — the animal
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. last — finally
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. cold — an illness
  15. mark — a trace
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. mouse — for a computer
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. mark — a grade
  23. row — a line
  24. row — to paddle

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