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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. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  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. season — of the year
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. root — of a word
  4. root — the cause
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. track — to keep track
  7. cold — an illness
  8. bore — to tire
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. hand — help
  11. season — in sport
  12. squash — the sport
  13. track — a song
  14. bat — the animal
  15. hand — in cards
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. root — of a plant
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. track — a path
  22. squash — to crush
  23. bore — to drill
  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