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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 120 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 · cue · fall · cold · saw · wake · file · fine

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  4. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. saw — the tool
  3. cue — a hint
  4. cue — a signal
  5. fall — the season
  6. file — a tool
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. fine — all right
  9. wake — a trail
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cue — for pool
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. file — a line of people
  15. saw — past of 'see'
  16. file — a document
  17. saw — the tool
  18. fine — high quality
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. fall — to drop
  21. bat — the animal
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. fine — a penalty

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