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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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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: race · fan · deal · fall · bat · cabinet · land · roll

  1. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. cabinet — ministers
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. land — to come down
  4. roll — a cake
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. deal — an agreement
  7. race — the arms race
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. fall — to drop
  10. deal — to handle
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. fall — to drop
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. roll — a list
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. land — a country
  18. fall — the season
  19. cabinet — a cupboard
  20. race — humankind
  21. race — a contest
  22. land — ground
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. bat — the animal

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