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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 president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. track — a path
  3. spring — the season
  4. chip — for betting
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. spring — of water
  8. spring — a coil
  9. chip — to eat
  10. cold — not warm
  11. cold — an illness
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. present — a gift
  14. track — a song
  15. row — a line
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. chip — in a computer
  18. present — the time now
  19. squash — the sport
  20. track — to keep track
  21. present — there
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. row — to paddle

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