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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 116 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 ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. We're almost out of ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. pop — soda
  3. wind — moving air
  4. mine — for digging
  5. wind — moving air
  6. bark — to shout
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. rest — what's left
  11. cold — not warm
  12. pop — music
  13. rest — a break
  14. cold — an illness
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. rest — what's left
  17. pop — to visit
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. chair — a leader
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. mine — an explosive

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