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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 116 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 water is too ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. spring — a coil
  4. track — a path
  5. last — finally
  6. last — final
  7. last — to go on
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. spring — of water
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. bass — the fish
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. board — a flat piece
  14. track — to keep track
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. cold — an illness
  17. board — a committee
  18. bat — the animal
  19. hide — animal skin
  20. bass — low music
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. board — to get on
  23. track — a song
  24. spring — the season

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