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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  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. squash — the vegetable
  2. squash — to crush
  3. saw — the tool
  4. lash — a whip stroke
  5. squash — the sport
  6. saw — the tool
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — not warm
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. cap — a hat
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. bass — the instrument
  14. bass — the fish
  15. cap — of ice
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. field — farmland
  18. net — in sport
  19. cap — a lid
  20. net — for catching
  21. bass — low music
  22. field — a subject
  23. field — for 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