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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. I've got to change the light ________________.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. ground — crushed
  3. last — to go on
  4. last — final
  5. bulb — for light
  6. bass — low music
  7. bulb — for light
  8. scale — size or range
  9. squash — to crush
  10. ground — the earth
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. cold — not warm
  14. ground — a position
  15. squash — the sport
  16. rule — government
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. cold — an illness
  19. scale — in music
  20. rule — a law
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. last — finally
  23. bass — the fish
  24. rule — to rule out

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