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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. spell — letters
  3. cap — a lid
  4. spell — magic
  5. bat — the animal
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — an illness
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. squash — the sport
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. cap — of ice
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. cap — a hat
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. spell — a short time
  17. chip — to eat
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. chip — for betting
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. rush — hurry
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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