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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. This piece is in a major ________________.
  23. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. wake — a trail
  3. squash — the sport
  4. squash — to crush
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. ground — the earth
  7. key — for a lock
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. ground — a position
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. drill — the tool
  12. drill — a practice
  13. ground — crushed
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. band — a music group
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. cold — an illness
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. drill — army training
  22. key — in music
  23. key — the most important part
  24. kick — in football

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