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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. spring — the season
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. race — humankind
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. race — a contest
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. mug — to rob
  11. cold — an illness
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. season — in sport
  14. bat — the animal
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. mug — a face
  17. cold — not warm
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. season — of the year
  21. race — the arms race
  22. mug — a cup
  23. spring — of water
  24. snap — to click

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