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

Word bank: bat · wind · rule · mate · fall · staff

  1. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a friend
  2. wind — moving air
  3. fall — to drop
  4. rule — government
  5. mate — a partner
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. staff — employees
  9. mate — to breed
  10. fall — to drop
  11. staff — a stick
  12. wind — moving air
  13. bat — the animal
  14. rule — a law
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. fall — the season
  17. staff — employees
  18. bat — for baseball

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