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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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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: cold · squash · ground · spring · track · cell · swing · arm

  1. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. track — a path
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. track — a song
  4. cold — not warm
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. cold — an illness
  7. swing — music
  8. cell — in biology
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. track — to keep track
  11. ground — crushed
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. squash — the sport
  14. cell — a phone
  15. squash — to crush
  16. ground — the earth
  17. spring — a coil
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. spring — of water
  20. swing — to play on
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. swing — in golf
  23. ground — a position
  24. spring — the season

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