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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. season — in sport
  4. season — of the year
  5. dip — to sink
  6. cell — a phone
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. rash — a series
  10. row — a line
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. rash — hasty
  14. game — wild animals
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. row — to paddle
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. cell — in biology
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. wound — an injury
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. wound — an injury
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. game — a match

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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