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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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  3. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. David sat on the ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. present — the time now
  3. rush — hurry
  4. present — a gift
  5. swing — music
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. root — of a plant
  13. swing — to play on
  14. cold — not warm
  15. file — a line of people
  16. swing — in golf
  17. present — there
  18. season — in sport
  19. file — a document
  20. file — a tool
  21. season — of the year
  22. root — of a word
  23. root — the cause
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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