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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 water is too ________________.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. spring — the season
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. ground — a position
  7. wound — an injury
  8. cap — a lid
  9. hand — help
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cap — of ice
  12. ground — crushed
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. hand — in cards
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cap — a hat
  18. spring — of water
  19. spring — a coil
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. mouse — for a computer
  22. wound — an injury
  23. ground — the earth
  24. mouse — the animal

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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