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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. The ________________ took off on time.
  17. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  21. The tickets are free of ________________.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. squash — the sport
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. mate — to breed
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. pitch — completely
  9. hand — in cards
  10. mate — a friend
  11. fall — to drop
  12. fall — to drop
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. cold — an illness
  15. mate — a partner
  16. plane — an aircraft
  17. charge — in control
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. fall — the season
  20. charge — electricity
  21. charge — a price
  22. hand — help
  23. plane — a tool
  24. squash — to crush

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