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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. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  5. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  10. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  11. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. pop — soda
  4. toast — a drink to someone
  5. bank — of a river
  6. cold — not warm
  7. toast — the most admired
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. bank — for money
  10. bank — for money
  11. squash — the sport
  12. pop — music
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. file — a line of people
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. squash — to crush
  17. bat — the animal
  18. file — a document
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. cold — an illness
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. file — a tool
  24. pop — to visit

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