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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: cold · arm · row · bat · pitcher · chip · cabinet · game

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. game — wild animals
  9. row — a line
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. game — a match
  12. chip — in a computer
  13. row — to paddle
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. cold — not warm
  18. bat — the animal
  19. arm — a part of something
  20. chip — for betting
  21. cold — an illness
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. chip — to eat
  24. cabinet — a cupboard

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