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

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. bass — the fish
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. last — to go on
  6. last — finally
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. squash — to crush
  10. ground — the earth
  11. squash — the sport
  12. rule — government
  13. bass — low music
  14. ground — a position
  15. cold — an illness
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. ground — crushed
  18. rule — a law

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