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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: bank · rash · last · kid · bat · fall · cell · object

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. last — finally
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. kid — child
  6. bank — of a river
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. fall — the season
  10. object — to protest
  11. rash — a series
  12. bat — the animal
  13. object — an aim
  14. fall — to drop
  15. fall — to drop
  16. last — to go on
  17. bank — for money
  18. cell — a phone
  19. last — final
  20. object — a thing
  21. cell — in biology
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. bank — for money
  24. kid — to tease

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