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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 116 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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. wind — moving air
  3. cold — not warm
  4. squash — the sport
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. season — of the year
  8. rash — a series
  9. stick — to attach or keep to
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. net — for catching
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. squash — to crush
  15. wind — moving air
  16. cold — an illness
  17. perch — the fish
  18. net — in sport
  19. rash — hasty
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. stick — a piece of wood
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. season — in sport
  24. net — after costs

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