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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. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  2. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  21. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  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. jam — a tight spot
  2. jam — to spread on bread
  3. cold — not warm
  4. rule — a law
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. saw — the tool
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. saw — the tool
  9. rule — government
  10. cold — an illness
  11. deal — to handle
  12. bat — the animal
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. fork — in a road
  17. jam — in traffic
  18. spring — a coil
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. deal — a big deal
  21. deal — an agreement
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. spring — the season
  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