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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: net · fall · hand · rush · cold · chest · face · bat

  1. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  24. Do you need a ________________ with that?

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. bat — the animal
  3. fall — to drop
  4. rush — hurry
  5. cold — not warm
  6. chest — a box
  7. fall — the season
  8. face — part of the head
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. chest — of your body
  11. face — to confront
  12. chest — of your body
  13. face — to point toward
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. net — in sport
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. cold — an illness
  19. net — after costs
  20. fall — to drop
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. hand — in cards
  24. hand — help

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