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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. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. I can't ________________ this cold.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. What do you think of the new ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. squash — to crush
  3. field — for sport
  4. spring — of water
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. cabinet — a cupboard
  8. squash — the sport
  9. field — farmland
  10. field — a subject
  11. spring — the season
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. rock — music
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cabinet — ministers
  18. cold — an illness
  19. wound — an injury
  20. wound — an injury
  21. stand — to bear
  22. rock — a stone
  23. spring — a coil
  24. cabinet — ministers

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