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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. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. fine — all right
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. roll — a cake
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. ground — a position
  7. rest — what's left
  8. bat — the animal
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. hand — in cards
  12. rest — what's left
  13. rest — a break
  14. snap — to click
  15. ground — crushed
  16. tear — from crying
  17. fine — high quality
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. tear — to rip
  20. roll — a list
  21. hand — help
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. ground — the earth
  24. tear — from crying

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