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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. fall — to drop
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bound — certain
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. fall — to drop
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. bat — the animal
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. fall — the season
  13. bound — tied together
  14. face — to confront
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. capital — a city
  17. mine — for digging
  18. bound — obliged
  19. game — a match
  20. face — to point toward
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. game — wild animals
  23. face — part of the head
  24. capital — money

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