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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  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. rush — hurry
  2. season — in sport
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. last — final
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. cold — not warm
  11. fork — in a road
  12. mine — for digging
  13. jam — to spread on bread
  14. cold — an illness
  15. jam — in traffic
  16. season — of the year
  17. snap — to click
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. jam — a tight spot
  20. last — finally
  21. last — to go on
  22. fork — a garden tool
  23. season — to add flavour
  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