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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. wound — an injury
  3. cap — a lid
  4. squash — to crush
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. spring — a coil
  7. spring — the season
  8. wound — an injury
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. spring — of water
  11. shower — to wash
  12. cap — a hat
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. cold — an illness
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cap — of ice
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. ruler — a monarch
  23. shower — rain
  24. dip — to sink

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