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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. roll — a cake
  4. hand — in cards
  5. wind — moving air
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. kick — in football
  8. roll — a list
  9. hand — help
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. fork — in a road
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. kick — with a leg
  14. cold — not warm
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. march — the month
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. march — the month
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. wind — moving air
  23. cold — an illness
  24. march — music

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