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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 kitten curled into a ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  12. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  15. I can't ________________ this cold.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a round shape
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. land — to come down
  4. land — ground
  5. spell — letters
  6. land — a country
  7. kick — in football
  8. cold — an illness
  9. spell — magic
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. fine — a penalty
  12. fine — high quality
  13. cold — not warm
  14. fine — all right
  15. stand — to bear
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. spell — a short time
  18. stand — on your feet
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. ball — a great time
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. ball — a dance
  24. bat — the animal

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