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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: cell · firm · bat · cold · land · wake · march · tube

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. bat — the animal
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. march — the month
  7. firm — a company
  8. wake — a trail
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. march — music
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. cold — not warm
  13. firm — steady
  14. cell — in biology
  15. land — a country
  16. firm — decided
  17. cell — a phone
  18. cold — an illness
  19. land — ground
  20. tube — the underground
  21. march — the month
  22. land — to come down
  23. tube — a container
  24. wake — before a funeral

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