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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 · ball · pass · bank · cell · bat · straw · fall

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. fall — to drop
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. cell — a phone
  5. bat — the animal
  6. bank — for money
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. ball — a dance
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. cell — in biology
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. bank — for money
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. ball — a great time
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. fall — the season
  18. pass — a permit
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bank — of a river
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. pass — to succeed
  23. fall — to drop
  24. pass — to spend time

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