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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  4. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  8. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. cue — a hint
  3. rest — what's left
  4. stick — to attach or keep to
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. cue — a signal
  10. rest — what's left
  11. wound — an injury
  12. wound — an injury
  13. row — a line
  14. spring — the season
  15. squash — the sport
  16. squash — to crush
  17. rest — a break
  18. row — to paddle
  19. spring — of water
  20. cue — for pool
  21. race — the arms race
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. race — a contest
  24. race — humankind

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