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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: scale · kick · cold · mouse · bat · row · ruler · rule

  1. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  3. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  10. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. ruler — a monarch
  3. ruler — for measuring
  4. kick — in football
  5. mouse — the animal
  6. row — a line
  7. scale — in music
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. rule — to rule out
  10. mouse — for a computer
  11. scale — size or range
  12. rule — government
  13. rule — a law
  14. cold — an illness
  15. cold — not warm
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. row — to paddle
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. scale — for weighing

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