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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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: chest · squash · pitcher · season · mate · rash · capital · cold

  1. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. squash — to crush
  4. cold — not warm
  5. mate — a partner
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. season — in sport
  9. rash — a series
  10. season — of the year
  11. rash — hasty
  12. chest — a box
  13. capital — money
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. capital — a big letter
  17. cold — an illness
  18. chest — of your body
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. mate — to breed
  21. mate — a friend
  22. squash — the sport
  23. capital — a city
  24. chest — of your body

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