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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 water is too ________________.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  10. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  11. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  12. I can't ________________ this cold.
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. squash — the sport
  3. lie — to recline
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. squash — to crush
  7. bound — certain
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. bound — tied together
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. stand — on your feet
  12. stand — to bear
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. bound — obliged
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. capital — a big letter
  18. fork — in a road
  19. stand — for spectators
  20. capital — money
  21. capital — a city
  22. mine — for digging
  23. cold — an illness
  24. fork — to eat with

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