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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. chair — a leader
  3. cap — a lid
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. ball — a dance
  6. rock — a stone
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. hand — in cards
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. cap — a hat
  12. wound — an injury
  13. hand — help
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. rock — to move gently
  16. wound — an injury
  17. wind — moving air
  18. rock — music
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. cap — of ice
  21. cold — not warm
  22. ball — a great time
  23. chair — a professorship
  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