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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 116 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 King held a masked ________________.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  16. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. ball — a round shape
  4. wind — moving air
  5. capital — money
  6. track — a song
  7. ball — a great time
  8. cold — an illness
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. rush — hurry
  11. cold — not warm
  12. track — a path
  13. game — a match
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. ruler — a monarch
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. capital — a city
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. game — wild animals
  23. wind — moving air
  24. track — to keep track

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