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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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  20. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  21. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — to keep track
  2. squash — the sport
  3. spell — magic
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. spell — a short time
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. cold — an illness
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. track — a path
  11. track — a song
  12. cold — not warm
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. pound — a weight
  15. rule — government
  16. rule — a law
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. squash — to crush
  19. pass — to spend time
  20. sharp — clever
  21. pass — a permit
  22. spell — letters
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. sharp — exactly

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