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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The ball is in your ________________.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. squash — to crush
  3. tear — to rip
  4. court — of law
  5. branch — a division
  6. cue — a hint
  7. cold — not warm
  8. court — of a king
  9. cue — a signal
  10. cue — for pool
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. hand — help
  13. court — for sport
  14. tear — from crying
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. squash — the sport
  19. hand — in cards
  20. present — there
  21. present — a gift
  22. present — the time now
  23. cold — an illness
  24. tear — from crying

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