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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. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. The ball is in your ________________.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — past of 'see'
  2. swing — to play on
  3. cap — a hat
  4. drill — army training
  5. cap — a lid
  6. bat — the animal
  7. kid — to tease
  8. cap — of ice
  9. saw — the tool
  10. court — of law
  11. drill — the tool
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. cell — a phone
  14. saw — the tool
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. court — for sport
  19. swing — music
  20. court — of a king
  21. kid — child
  22. drill — a practice
  23. swing — in golf
  24. cell — in biology

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