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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. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. rest — a break
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. game — a match
  5. capital — money
  6. squash — to crush
  7. rest — what's left
  8. squash — the sport
  9. stock — goods
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. game — wild animals
  12. capital — a city
  13. mouse — for a computer
  14. cold — not warm
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. rest — what's left
  17. sharp — clever
  18. cold — an illness
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. mouse — the animal
  23. stock — shares
  24. stock — a soup base

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