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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. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  5. The ________________ market has crashed.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. cap — a hat
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. squash — the sport
  5. stock — shares
  6. spell — letters
  7. stock — goods
  8. cold — not warm
  9. prune — to trim
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. clip — for paper
  12. cap — of ice
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. prune — to trim
  15. spell — magic
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. last — final
  18. cold — an illness
  19. clip — to cut
  20. clip — a video
  21. last — to go on
  22. last — finally
  23. squash — to crush
  24. cap — a lid

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