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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: hand · bat · pop · wound · wake · cold · racket · suit

  1. When will it ________________ you to start?
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. suit — to fit
  2. bat — the animal
  3. hand — in cards
  4. racket — for tennis
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. suit — in cards
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. cold — an illness
  11. pop — to visit
  12. pop — music
  13. wound — an injury
  14. suit — clothes
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. hand — help
  18. pop — soda
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. cold — not warm
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. wake — a trail
  24. wound — an injury

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