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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 120 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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. mine — for digging
  3. bat — the animal
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. capital — money
  6. capital — a city
  7. present — there
  8. saw — the tool
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. present — a gift
  12. cold — not warm
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. present — the time now
  15. saw — the tool
  16. dip — to sink
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — an injury
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. dip — a sauce

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