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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. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. cold — an illness
  5. wound — an injury
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. bat — the animal
  11. wound — an injury
  12. dip — to sink
  13. degree — an amount
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. fork — in a road
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. squash — the sport
  20. degree — from a university
  21. degree — temperature
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. cold — not warm

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