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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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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: race · fall · ruler · cell · clip · bat · hide · mark

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  10. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  21. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  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. clip — for paper
  2. fall — to drop
  3. race — humankind
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. fall — to drop
  6. fall — the season
  7. ruler — a monarch
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. hide — to keep secret
  11. bat — the animal
  12. cell — in biology
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. race — a contest
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. clip — to cut
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. mark — a grade
  19. race — the arms race
  20. mark — a trace
  21. ruler — for measuring
  22. clip — a video
  23. cell — a phone
  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