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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 120 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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. wind — moving air
  3. wound — an injury
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. rash — a series
  8. bass — the fish
  9. rash — hasty
  10. sharp — clever
  11. wound — an injury
  12. mate — a friend
  13. spring — of water
  14. wind — moving air
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. mate — a partner
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. bass — low music
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. mate — to breed
  22. spring — the season
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. spring — a coil

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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