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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 120 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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. wound — an injury
  3. fall — to drop
  4. squash — the sport
  5. rash — a series
  6. squash — to crush
  7. craft — boats
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. craft — a skill
  10. land — to come down
  11. fall — to drop
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. cell — a phone
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. fall — the season
  17. land — a country
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. wound — an injury
  20. track — to keep track
  21. cell — in biology
  22. land — ground
  23. track — a song
  24. track — a path

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