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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. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. kid — child
  3. cold — an illness
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. wind — moving air
  6. deal — to handle
  7. wind — moving air
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. kid — to tease
  10. last — to go on
  11. wound — an injury
  12. fork — a garden tool
  13. last — final
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. wound — an injury
  16. fork — in a road
  17. cold — not warm
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. wake — a trail
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. fork — to eat with

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