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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. rock — music
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. wind — moving air
  6. cold — not warm
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. tube — a container
  10. scale — in music
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. wind — moving air
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. kick — in football
  18. rock — a stone
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. tube — the underground
  21. rock — to move gently
  22. scale — size or range
  23. bat — the animal
  24. tube — in a tire

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