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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: rush · pass · bat · face · fan · dip · row · cold

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. row — a line
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. dip — to sink
  5. cold — not warm
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. row — to paddle
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. pass — a permit
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. pass — to succeed
  15. cold — an illness
  16. face — to confront
  17. face — to point toward
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. bat — the animal
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. face — part of the head
  24. bat — in an idiom

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