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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: hand · foot · bat · staff · pass · race · cold · present

  1. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  12. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  22. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  23. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — a stick
  2. present — there
  3. foot — the bottom
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. pass — to spend time
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. hand — in cards
  8. present — the time now
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. present — a gift
  11. pass — to succeed
  12. foot — a measure
  13. cold — an illness
  14. hand — help
  15. race — humankind
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. race — a contest
  19. race — the arms race
  20. cold — not warm
  21. staff — employees
  22. staff — employees
  23. pass — a permit
  24. cold — the Cold War

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