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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  21. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. wind — moving air
  3. foot — the bottom
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. cold — not warm
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. foot — a measure
  10. perch — the fish
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. ground — crushed
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. rule — government
  15. wind — moving air
  16. ground — a position
  17. ground — the earth
  18. cold — an illness
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. pound — a weight
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. rule — a law

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