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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: wake · cold · spell · wound · swing · race · hide · chip

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. chip — to eat
  3. cold — not warm
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. wound — an injury
  7. spell — magic
  8. cold — an illness
  9. race — humankind
  10. wound — an injury
  11. swing — music
  12. spell — letters
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. wake — a trail
  16. swing — in golf
  17. race — a contest
  18. chip — for betting
  19. spell — a short time
  20. race — the arms race
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. hide — to keep secret

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