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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. rest — what's left
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. rest — a break
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. chip — to eat
  7. ball — a great time
  8. bat — the animal
  9. spring — the season
  10. shower — rain
  11. rest — what's left
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — an illness
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. ball — a dance
  17. shower — to wash
  18. chip — for betting
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. stick — to attach or keep to
  21. spring — of water
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. spring — a coil
  24. bat — for baseball

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