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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: mine · hand · foot · cold · squash · ball · present · wound

  1. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  10. The King held a masked ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — the time now
  2. hand — in cards
  3. wound — an injury
  4. present — there
  5. squash — the sport
  6. cold — an illness
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. foot — the bottom
  10. ball — a dance
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. ball — a great time
  13. present — a gift
  14. squash — to crush
  15. cold — not warm
  16. squash — the vegetable
  17. hand — help
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. mine — for digging
  21. ball — a round shape
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. foot — a measure
  24. wound — an injury

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