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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. Have you found your soul ________________?
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. The ________________ market has crashed.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. mate — a partner
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. bat — the animal
  6. stock — a soup base
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. cold — an illness
  11. fall — to drop
  12. fall — the season
  13. cold — not warm
  14. mate — to breed
  15. rash — a series
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. hand — in cards
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. mate — a friend
  20. dip — to sink
  21. stock — shares
  22. hand — help
  23. fall — to drop
  24. stock — goods

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