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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. track — to keep track
  5. present — there
  6. track — a path
  7. lie — to recline
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. ball — a great time
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. present — a gift
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. spring — of water
  16. board — a committee
  17. spring — a coil
  18. ball — a dance
  19. track — a song
  20. board — a flat piece
  21. spring — the season
  22. board — to get on
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. present — the time now

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