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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. row — a line
  4. bat — the animal
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. fine — all right
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. spring — a coil
  10. object — to protest
  11. race — the arms race
  12. race — a contest
  13. object — an aim
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. fine — high quality
  17. row — to paddle
  18. object — a thing
  19. spring — of water
  20. snap — to click
  21. spring — the season
  22. race — humankind
  23. fine — a penalty
  24. bat — in an idiom

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