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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  10. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  23. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. spring — the season
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. spring — a coil
  7. squash — the sport
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. deal — to handle
  10. firm — a company
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. firm — steady
  13. squash — to crush
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — an illness
  16. spring — of water
  17. game — a match
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. game — wild animals
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. deal — an agreement
  23. firm — decided
  24. kick — in football

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