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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 124 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 flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. I'll be taking the ________________.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. last — to go on
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. tube — the underground
  8. squash — the sport
  9. pound — a weight
  10. cold — an illness
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. rash — hasty
  13. squash — to crush
  14. chair — a leader
  15. spring — a coil
  16. rash — a series
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. tube — in a tire
  19. spring — of water
  20. last — final
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. tube — a container
  23. last — finally
  24. cold — not warm

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