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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: cold · plane · bat · board · wind · pit · snap · date

  1. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. board — to get on
  2. pit — a hole
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. bat — the animal
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — an illness
  7. snap — to click
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. date — on the calendar
  12. wind — moving air
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. board — a flat piece
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. plane — a tool
  18. pit — a fruit stone
  19. pit — in a race
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. board — a committee
  22. wind — moving air
  23. date — the fruit
  24. cold — the Cold War

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