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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. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. fine — all right
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. fine — high quality
  7. pit — a hole
  8. fall — to drop
  9. mine — for digging
  10. wound — an injury
  11. hand — help
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. wound — an injury
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. pit — in a race
  16. fall — to drop
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. hand — in cards
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. bat — the animal
  24. fine — a penalty

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