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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  7. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. charge — a price
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cap — a hat
  6. season — in sport
  7. charge — electricity
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wound — an injury
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. cap — of ice
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. season — of the year
  17. squash — the sport
  18. charge — in control
  19. squash — to crush
  20. shower — to wash
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. cap — a lid
  23. shower — rain
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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