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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. The tickets are free of ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. last — to go on
  4. fall — to drop
  5. hand — help
  6. charge — electricity
  7. squash — the sport
  8. last — final
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. squash — to crush
  11. fall — to drop
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. charge — a price
  14. rash — a series
  15. rash — hasty
  16. hand — in cards
  17. game — wild animals
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. fall — the season
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. charge — in control
  22. game — a match
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. last — finally

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