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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  3. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  10. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  11. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  12. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  15. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  19. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  20. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. stick — to attach or keep to
  3. trunk — of a tree
  4. spell — letters
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. hide — animal skin
  11. bowl — to roll
  12. bowl — a dish
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. trunk — of an elephant
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. cold — not warm
  18. bowl — a football final
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. trunk — of a car
  21. bat — the animal
  22. spell — a short time
  23. row — a line
  24. row — to paddle

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