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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. rest — a break
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. bat — the animal
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. squash — to crush
  8. cold — an illness
  9. prune — to trim
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. rest — what's left
  12. clip — for paper
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. rest — what's left
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. snap — to click
  17. squash — the sport
  18. toast — bread
  19. clip — to cut
  20. clip — a video
  21. toast — a drink to someone
  22. prune — to trim
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. toast — the most admired

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