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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  19. The tickets are free of ________________.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. mouse — for a computer
  3. snap — to click
  4. spring — the season
  5. bass — the fish
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. squash — the sport
  8. cold — an illness
  9. charge — in control
  10. spring — of water
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. bass — low music
  13. file — a tool
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. spring — a coil
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. file — a line of people
  18. squash — to crush
  19. charge — a price
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. charge — electricity
  23. cold — not warm
  24. file — a document

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