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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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 very handy with a ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  15. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. Have you settled on a ________________?
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. cold — an illness
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. pitch — completely
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. squash — the sport
  12. wind — moving air
  13. squash — to crush
  14. vault — an arched ceiling
  15. vault — a safe
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. date — the fruit
  19. cold — not warm
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. saw — the tool
  22. vault — in gymnastics
  23. wind — moving air
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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