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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: pit · rush · bat · fan · game · fine · chest · wake

  1. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  12. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. fine — high quality
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. chest — a box
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. bat — the animal
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. game — a match
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. fine — all right
  12. fine — a penalty
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. pit — a hole
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. chest — of your body
  19. wake — a trail
  20. chest — of your body
  21. rush — to hurry
  22. rush — hurry
  23. game — wild animals
  24. pit — in a race

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