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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. squash — the sport
  3. fork — in a road
  4. face — to point toward
  5. last — finally
  6. squash — to crush
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wound — an injury
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. last — final
  11. tube — the underground
  12. face — part of the head
  13. last — to go on
  14. face — to confront
  15. cold — not warm
  16. clip — a video
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. tube — a container
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. clip — to cut
  24. clip — for paper

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