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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 · rest · game · roll · saw · cell · clip · cold

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. saw — past of 'see'
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. game — wild animals
  5. game — a match
  6. rest — what's left
  7. cold — not warm
  8. saw — the tool
  9. roll — a list
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. clip — for paper
  12. clip — a video
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. rest — what's left
  15. cold — an illness
  16. bat — the animal
  17. saw — the tool
  18. rest — a break
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. clip — to cut
  21. roll — a cake
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. cell — a phone
  24. cell — in biology

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