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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  21. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  22. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. game — a match
  4. last — final
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. fine — a penalty
  7. cap — a hat
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. last — finally
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. cap — of ice
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. chest — of your body
  14. game — wild animals
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cap — a lid
  17. chest — a box
  18. cold — an illness
  19. rush — hurry
  20. fine — high quality
  21. fine — all right
  22. chest — of your body
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. fork — in a road

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