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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cap — of ice
  4. bound — certain
  5. cold — not warm
  6. field — farmland
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. squash — the vegetable
  12. bound — tied together
  13. bound — obliged
  14. field — a subject
  15. cap — a hat
  16. squash — to crush
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. field — for sport
  19. squash — the sport
  20. cap — a lid
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. kick — in football
  23. wound — an injury
  24. fan — to cool the air

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