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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. dip — a sauce
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. wound — an injury
  5. swing — to play on
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. cold — not warm
  8. wound — an injury
  9. swing — in golf
  10. wind — moving air
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. fall — to drop
  13. dip — to sink
  14. swing — music
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. wind — moving air
  17. cold — an illness
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. date — the fruit
  20. fall — the season
  21. fall — to drop
  22. game — a match
  23. game — wild animals
  24. wind — to turn a key

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