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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  12. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. game — wild animals
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. mark — a trace
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. wound — an injury
  8. wound — an injury
  9. object — to protest
  10. season — in sport
  11. object — a thing
  12. mark — to pay attention
  13. cap — a lid
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. game — a match
  17. fork — in a road
  18. wake — a trail
  19. mark — a grade
  20. object — an aim
  21. season — of the year
  22. cap — of ice
  23. cap — a hat
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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