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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: dip · rest · rule · pitch · spring · bat · cold · snap

  1. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — to dunk
  2. spring — a coil
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. spring — the season
  6. snap — to click
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. pitch — completely
  9. spring — of water
  10. rule — government
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. bat — the animal
  14. rest — a break
  15. dip — to sink
  16. cold — not warm
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. rest — what's left
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. rule — a law
  22. cold — an illness
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. rest — what's left

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