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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. scale — size or range
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. object — to protest
  6. wake — a trail
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. scale — in music
  13. swing — music
  14. land — a country
  15. swing — to play on
  16. season — of the year
  17. bat — the animal
  18. swing — in golf
  19. object — a thing
  20. land — ground
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. land — to come down
  23. season — in sport
  24. object — an aim

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