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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  13. When was this ________________ built?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The ________________ took off on time.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Don't do anything ________________.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. plane — in geometry
  3. fall — to drop
  4. hand — in cards
  5. degree — from a university
  6. hand — help
  7. fall — the season
  8. rash — a series
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. cold — an illness
  11. bat — the animal
  12. temple — side of the head
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. cold — not warm
  15. degree — temperature
  16. plane — an aircraft
  17. plane — a tool
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. rash — hasty
  23. fall — to drop
  24. degree — an amount

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