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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 116 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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  20. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. dip — a sauce
  3. squash — the sport
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. trunk — of a tree
  7. dip — to sink
  8. field — for sport
  9. wind — moving air
  10. cold — an illness
  11. fall — to drop
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. squash — to crush
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. field — farmland
  17. cold — not warm
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. bore — to drill
  20. bore — to tire
  21. field — a subject
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. fall — the season
  24. fall — to drop

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