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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. We're on a ________________ here.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  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. roll — on a roll
  2. bat — the animal
  3. net — after costs
  4. board — a committee
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. net — in sport
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. roll — a list
  9. cold — not warm
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. board — to get on
  12. cap — a hat
  13. net — for catching
  14. roll — a cake
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. cap — of ice
  17. wake — a trail
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. board — a flat piece
  22. cap — a lid
  23. cold — the Cold War
  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