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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 all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. What do you think of the new ________________?
  6. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. bat — the animal
  3. staff — a stick
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. cabinet — a cupboard
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. mine — for digging
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. game — a match
  11. shower — rain
  12. tear — from crying
  13. game — wild animals
  14. lie — to recline
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. shower — to wash
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. staff — employees
  20. tear — from crying
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. staff — employees
  24. tear — to rip

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