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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  17. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. sharp — clever
  3. field — farmland
  4. snap — to speak sharply
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. field — a subject
  8. cold — an illness
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. cold — not warm
  11. squash — the sport
  12. rule — a law
  13. rock — music
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. squash — to crush
  16. rock — a stone
  17. snap — to click
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. foot — part of the body
  20. field — for sport
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. rule — government
  24. foot — a measure

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