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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  7. My mare is ________________ in color.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  17. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  22. The ________________ went through the wall.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. cold — not warm
  3. spell — letters
  4. scale — in music
  5. wound — an injury
  6. bay — a part of the sea
  7. bay — a horse colour
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. nail — on a finger
  10. cold — an illness
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. fork — in a road
  13. lash — an eyelash
  14. spell — magic
  15. scale — size or range
  16. lash — to lash out
  17. bay — to keep at bay
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. spell — a short time
  22. nail — for a hammer
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. nail — for a hammer

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