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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. ball — a dance
  3. field — farmland
  4. snap — to click
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. squash — to crush
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. squash — the sport
  12. field — a subject
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. stem — to come from
  16. ball — a great time
  17. cold — not warm
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. cold — an illness
  22. field — for sport
  23. cell — a phone
  24. cell — in biology

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