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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. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. tear — from crying
  3. spring — a coil
  4. squash — to crush
  5. squash — the sport
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. racket — a loud noise
  8. tear — from crying
  9. spell — letters
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. tear — to rip
  12. rule — a law
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. plane — a tool
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — not warm
  17. spell — magic
  18. plane — an aircraft
  19. spring — the season
  20. spring — of water
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. spell — a short time
  23. racket — for tennis
  24. rule — government

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