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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 116 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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  18. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  19. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. ground — the earth
  3. squash — to crush
  4. ball — a great time
  5. clip — for paper
  6. cold — an illness
  7. ball — a dance
  8. ground — a position
  9. pit — a hole
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. row — to paddle
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. clip — to cut
  17. pit — in a race
  18. ball — a round shape
  19. rock — music
  20. row — a line
  21. cold — not warm
  22. rock — a stone
  23. clip — a video
  24. ground — crushed

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