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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: land · lie · march · snap · bat · cold · key · game

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. This piece is in a major ________________.
  12. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. bat — the animal
  3. cold — an illness
  4. cold — not warm
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. march — music
  7. march — the month
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. game — a match
  10. key — the most important part
  11. key — in music
  12. lie — to recline
  13. land — a country
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. land — ground
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. key — for a lock
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. snap — to click
  20. march — the month
  21. game — wild animals
  22. land — to come down
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. lie — an untruth

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