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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: last · cold · ball · stock · snap · bat · temple · straw

  1. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. When was this ________________ built?
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. temple — side of the head
  3. last — final
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. stock — goods
  8. ball — a dance
  9. temple — a place of worship
  10. ball — a great time
  11. last — to go on
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. stock — shares
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. cold — an illness
  16. bat — the animal
  17. last — finally
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. cold — not warm
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. temple — a place of worship
  22. snap — to click
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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