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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. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  9. The King held a masked ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  22. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sales talk
  2. fall — to drop
  3. wind — moving air
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. fall — the season
  6. rock — to move gently
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. rock — a stone
  9. ball — a dance
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. ball — a great time
  15. row — a line
  16. wind — moving air
  17. fall — to drop
  18. jam — a tight spot
  19. bat — the animal
  20. pitch — completely
  21. jam — in traffic
  22. rock — music
  23. row — to paddle
  24. ball — a round shape

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