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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 124 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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  15. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. bat — the animal
  4. saw — the tool
  5. wound — an injury
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. bass — the fish
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. cold — an illness
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. bass — low music
  14. fan — to cool the air
  15. perch — the fish
  16. saw — the tool
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. wound — an injury
  20. cold — not warm
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. snap — to click
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. bat — in an idiom

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