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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. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  8. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — a permit
  2. row — a line
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. bank — for money
  5. cap — of ice
  6. cold — not warm
  7. bank — for money
  8. bank — of a river
  9. last — finally
  10. pass — to succeed
  11. wound — an injury
  12. cold — an illness
  13. last — final
  14. spring — the season
  15. spring — a coil
  16. wound — an injury
  17. cap — a hat
  18. cap — a lid
  19. last — to go on
  20. row — to paddle
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. pass — to spend time
  24. spring — of water

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