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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: wind · kick · fall · mate · pit · last · bat · bowl

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. fall — to drop
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. fall — to drop
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. pit — a hole
  8. last — to go on
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. kick — in football
  12. wind — moving air
  13. mate — to breed
  14. bat — the animal
  15. last — finally
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. fall — the season
  19. mate — a partner
  20. wind — moving air
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. mate — a friend
  23. pit — in a race
  24. wind — to turn a key

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