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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I'll be taking the ________________.
  3. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I got dealt a bad ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. tube — the underground
  3. bore — gave birth
  4. spell — magic
  5. squash — the sport
  6. spell — letters
  7. cold — not warm
  8. rest — a break
  9. hand — help
  10. spell — a short time
  11. rest — what's left
  12. swing — to play on
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. tube — a container
  15. bore — to drill
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. rest — what's left
  18. squash — to crush
  19. bore — to tire
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. swing — in golf
  22. swing — music
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. hand — in cards

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