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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: land · bay · fork · cold · wave · squash · rule · rush

  1. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  8. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. cold — not warm
  3. squash — to crush
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. bay — to keep at bay
  8. bay — a part of the sea
  9. land — ground
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. rush — hurry
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. squash — the sport
  14. land — to come down
  15. rule — a law
  16. wave — with your hand
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. cold — an illness
  20. rule — government
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. fork — in a road
  23. land — a country
  24. wave — of the sea

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