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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  7. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. wind — moving air
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. bowl — a dish
  7. rock — a stone
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. rock — music
  10. cold — an illness
  11. scale — in music
  12. scale — size or range
  13. hand — help
  14. wake — a trail
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. wind — moving air
  19. bowl — a football final
  20. mine — for digging
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. hand — in cards
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. mine — an explosive

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