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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  22. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  23. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. rash — hasty
  3. wound — an injury
  4. game — wild animals
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. cold — not warm
  7. game — a match
  8. dip — to sink
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. rash — a series
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. wound — an injury
  16. wax — for sculpting
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. rash — on the skin
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. straw — dry grass
  22. wax — to grow
  23. wax — in the ear
  24. nail — for a hammer

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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