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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.

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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 cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  2. When will it ________________ you to start?
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The King held a masked ________________.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — clothes
  2. suit — to fit
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. cold — an illness
  7. ball — a great time
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. fall — to drop
  10. hand — help
  11. bat — the animal
  12. ball — a dance
  13. fall — the season
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. shower — to wash
  16. shower — rain
  17. hand — in cards
  18. wind — moving air
  19. wind — moving air
  20. suit — in cards
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. fall — to drop
  23. cold — not warm
  24. ball — a round shape

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