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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 King held a masked ________________.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  21. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. fall — to drop
  3. wound — an injury
  4. pass — to succeed
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — not warm
  8. ball — a great time
  9. spring — a coil
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. bear — the animal
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. spring — of water
  15. bear — the animal
  16. fall — the season
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. pass — to spend time
  19. spring — the season
  20. fall — to drop
  21. pass — a permit
  22. wound — an injury
  23. pit — in a race
  24. pit — a hole

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