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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 120 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. cold — an illness
  3. mine — for digging
  4. track — a song
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. cold — not warm
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. pop — soda
  12. hand — help
  13. track — a path
  14. rush — hurry
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. hand — in cards
  17. pop — music
  18. pop — to visit

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