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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. The light ________________ burned out.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — for light
  2. bat — the animal
  3. fall — to drop
  4. fall — the season
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. cold — not warm
  7. wound — an injury
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. fall — to drop
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. wound — an injury
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. pit — a hole
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pit — in a race
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. bulb — for light
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. arm — a part of something
  24. mine — for digging

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