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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: mark · bat · cell · cold · racket · band · saw · fall

  1. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  18. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. fall — to drop
  3. saw — the tool
  4. cold — an illness
  5. mark — a grade
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. fall — to drop
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. mark — a trace
  12. band — a music group
  13. cell — in biology
  14. band — a ring
  15. cell — a phone
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. racket — for tennis
  18. racket — a loud noise
  19. fall — the season
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. cold — not warm
  22. saw — the tool
  23. bat — the animal
  24. cell — in a prison

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