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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 president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  14. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. can — to be able to
  3. roll — a cake
  4. cold — an illness
  5. snap — to click
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. can — a tin
  8. squash — the sport
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. foot — a measure
  14. foot — part of the body
  15. cell — a phone
  16. can — a tin
  17. capital — money
  18. cell — in biology
  19. capital — a city
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. cold — not warm
  22. roll — a list
  23. foot — the bottom
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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