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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. When will it ________________ you to start?
  8. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  13. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. spring — a coil
  3. row — to paddle
  4. row — a line
  5. toast — the most admired
  6. degree — from a university
  7. suit — to fit
  8. suit — in cards
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. degree — an amount
  11. hand — in cards
  12. suit — clothes
  13. toast — bread
  14. squash — the sport
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — an illness
  17. squash — to crush
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. spring — of water
  20. hand — help
  21. toast — a drink to someone
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. degree — temperature
  24. spring — the season

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