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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'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. ground — crushed
  3. hand — in cards
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. mate — a partner
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. rush — hurry
  8. season — in sport
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. ground — a position
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. squash — to crush
  16. mate — a friend
  17. cold — an illness
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. hand — help
  20. mate — to breed
  21. ground — the earth
  22. cold — not warm
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. season — of the year

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