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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: row · toast · racket · kid · bat · cold

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  11. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. cold — an illness
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. bat — the animal
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. toast — bread
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. toast — a drink to someone
  11. racket — a loud noise
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. row — a line
  14. kid — to tease
  15. toast — the most admired
  16. row — to paddle
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. kid — child

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