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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. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. last — finally
  3. spring — the season
  4. ground — a position
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. rash — a series
  8. dip — to sink
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. rash — hasty
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. squash — the sport
  14. ground — crushed
  15. last — final
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. last — to go on
  18. spring — a coil
  19. ground — the earth
  20. capital — money
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. spring — of water
  23. capital — a city
  24. capital — a big letter

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