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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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. squash — the sport
  3. prune — to trim
  4. squash — to crush
  5. prune — to trim
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. fall — to drop
  8. chip — to eat
  9. fall — to drop
  10. chip — for betting
  11. lash — a whip stroke
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. race — the arms race
  14. hand — in cards
  15. race — humankind
  16. spring — the season
  17. lash — to lash out
  18. race — a contest
  19. fall — the season
  20. hand — help
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. spring — a coil
  24. hand — part of the body

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