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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. track — a path
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. pop — soda
  7. track — a song
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. wind — moving air
  12. wind — moving air
  13. bat — the animal
  14. squash — the sport
  15. pop — music
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. squash — to crush
  18. track — to keep track
  19. land — ground
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. land — a country
  22. pop — to visit
  23. cold — an illness
  24. land — to come down

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