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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: row · rest · bat · roll · clip · tube · mate · fall

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. roll — a cake
  3. fall — to drop
  4. mate — a partner
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. fall — to drop
  7. row — a line
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. clip — a video
  10. fall — the season
  11. mate — a friend
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. tube — the underground
  14. row — to paddle
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. mate — to breed
  17. rest — what's left
  18. roll — a list
  19. rest — a break
  20. tube — a container
  21. clip — to cut
  22. rest — what's left
  23. clip — for paper
  24. bat — in an idiom

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