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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: hand · deal · wound · land · race · pop · squash · season

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. wound — an injury
  3. wound — an injury
  4. land — a country
  5. season — in sport
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. race — a contest
  8. land — ground
  9. pop — music
  10. race — humankind
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. hand — in cards
  15. deal — to handle
  16. land — to come down
  17. deal — an agreement
  18. hand — help
  19. squash — the sport
  20. pop — to visit
  21. season — of the year
  22. pop — soda
  23. race — the arms race
  24. squash — to crush

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