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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  16. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. cell — a phone
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. wound — an injury
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. game — a match
  9. cold — an illness
  10. saw — the tool
  11. cold — not warm
  12. dip — to sink
  13. leaves — lets stay
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. leaves — to go away
  16. game — wild animals
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. saw — the tool
  19. cell — in biology
  20. mine — for digging
  21. leaves — of a tree
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. wound — an injury

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