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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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — to eat with
  2. bass — low music
  3. spell — a short time
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. ground — crushed
  8. squash — to crush
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. cold — an illness
  11. spell — magic
  12. snap — to click
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. bass — the instrument
  15. bass — the fish
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. fork — in a road
  19. ground — a position
  20. ground — the earth
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. spell — letters
  23. squash — the sport
  24. cold — not warm

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