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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: wind · kick · toast · file · last · object · cold · squash

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. False peace will not ________________.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. kick — a thrill
  3. kick — in football
  4. toast — a drink to someone
  5. squash — to crush
  6. wind — moving air
  7. file — a document
  8. file — a tool
  9. object — an aim
  10. last — finally
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. kick — with a leg
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. last — final
  15. wind — moving air
  16. last — to go on
  17. file — a line of people
  18. toast — the most admired
  19. squash — the sport
  20. cold — an illness
  21. object — to protest
  22. object — a thing
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. toast — bread

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