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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. That was ________________ to happen.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. bound — certain
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. wound — an injury
  6. wound — an injury
  7. cold — not warm
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. snap — to click
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. file — a tool
  13. cold — an illness
  14. mine — for digging
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. bound — obliged
  17. file — a line of people
  18. fork — in a road
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. file — a document
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. bound — tied together

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