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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I seem to be developing a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. last — finally
  3. last — to go on
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. game — a match
  8. mine — for digging
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. rash — a series
  11. mark — a grade
  12. rash — hasty
  13. mark — to pay attention
  14. rush — hurry
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. mark — a trace
  17. wax — in the ear
  18. cold — an illness
  19. wax — to grow
  20. last — final
  21. game — wild animals
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. rash — on the skin

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