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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 ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. key — the most important part
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. cold — not warm
  6. branch — a division
  7. cold — an illness
  8. dip — to sink
  9. face — to point toward
  10. wound — an injury
  11. wound — an injury
  12. season — of the year
  13. key — for a lock
  14. face — to confront
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. season — in sport
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. key — in music
  20. race — a contest
  21. face — part of the head
  22. race — humankind
  23. race — the arms race
  24. cold — the Cold War

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