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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: snap · bat · branch · fall · row · pit · cold · tube

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  7. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  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. fall — to drop
  2. pit — in a race
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. branch — a division
  5. fall — the season
  6. pit — a fruit stone
  7. row — a line
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. fall — to drop
  10. row — to paddle
  11. snap — to click
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. cold — not warm
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. tube — a container
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. tube — the underground
  22. cold — an illness
  23. pit — a hole
  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