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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. wound — an injury
  4. cold — an illness
  5. spring — a coil
  6. pass — a permit
  7. prune — to trim
  8. land — a country
  9. cold — not warm
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. spring — of water
  12. spell — magic
  13. fine — a penalty
  14. spring — the season
  15. spell — letters
  16. prune — to trim
  17. land — ground
  18. spell — a short time
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. fine — all right
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. fine — high quality
  23. land — to come down
  24. wound — an injury

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