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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  19. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. cold — an illness
  4. land — to come down
  5. mark — a grade
  6. spring — of water
  7. pass — to succeed
  8. spring — a coil
  9. fine — all right
  10. land — ground
  11. tear — to rip
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. fine — a penalty
  14. last — finally
  15. spring — the season
  16. mark — a trace
  17. fine — high quality
  18. pass — to spend time
  19. pass — a permit
  20. land — a country
  21. last — final
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tear — from crying
  24. last — to go on

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