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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 124 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. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  14. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. bat — the animal
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wound — an injury
  7. face — to point toward
  8. fine — all right
  9. face — to confront
  10. wind — moving air
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. face — part of the head
  13. coach — pulled by horses
  14. trunk — of a car
  15. fine — high quality
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. fine — a penalty
  19. wound — an injury
  20. squash — the sport
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. bat — for baseball

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