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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.

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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 don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  2. That was a fun ________________.
  3. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  4. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. My mare is ________________ in color.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. game — a match
  3. bay — a part of the sea
  4. mouse — for a computer
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. row — a line
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. game — wild animals
  9. wound — an injury
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. bat — the animal
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. last — to go on
  15. bay — a horse colour
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. bay — to keep at bay
  18. cold — not warm
  19. last — finally
  20. row — to paddle
  21. last — final
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. wound — an injury
  24. cold — an illness

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