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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 president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. object — to protest
  3. spring — of water
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. rash — hasty
  6. rash — a series
  7. wake — a trail
  8. spring — a coil
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. squash — the sport
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — not warm
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. bark — to shout
  16. object — an aim
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. wind — moving air
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. spring — the season
  21. wind — moving air
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. object — a thing
  24. cold — an illness

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