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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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 like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Have you met the new head ________________?
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. cell — a phone
  3. coach — a trainer
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. saw — the tool
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — an illness
  10. rest — what's left
  11. bat — the animal
  12. pit — in a race
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. pit — a hole
  15. rest — what's left
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. cell — in biology
  18. rest — a break
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. saw — the tool
  21. dip — to sink
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. pit — a fruit stone
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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