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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. Have you found your soul ________________?
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. deal — to handle
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. fall — to drop
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. mate — to breed
  7. content — happy
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. content — the amount
  10. cold — an illness
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. mate — a friend
  14. capital — money
  15. cold — not warm
  16. fall — the season
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. capital — a city
  19. deal — a big deal
  20. bat — the animal
  21. fall — to drop
  22. cell — in biology
  23. mate — a partner
  24. capital — a big letter

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