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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. fall — to drop
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. race — a contest
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. chest — a box
  8. cold — an illness
  9. race — humankind
  10. perch — the fish
  11. swing — to play on
  12. fall — the season
  13. chest — of your body
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. chest — of your body
  16. race — the arms race
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. swing — music
  19. hand — in cards
  20. swing — in golf
  21. cold — not warm
  22. fall — to drop
  23. hand — help
  24. perch — for a bird

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