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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. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. fall — the season
  3. squash — the sport
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. ground — the earth
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. cap — a hat
  8. spring — the season
  9. cap — of ice
  10. wound — an injury
  11. ground — crushed
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. wound — an injury
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. ground — a position
  17. fall — to drop
  18. cap — a lid
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. spring — of water
  21. bat — the animal
  22. perch — the fish
  23. spring — a coil
  24. fall — to drop

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