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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.

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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. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  2. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  8. The King held a masked ________________.
  9. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — a law
  2. rest — a break
  3. ground — the earth
  4. cold — an illness
  5. ground — crushed
  6. cell — in biology
  7. object — a thing
  8. ball — a dance
  9. object — to protest
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. ball — a great time
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. ground — a position
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cell — a phone
  17. band — a music group
  18. object — an aim
  19. rule — government
  20. cold — not warm
  21. rest — what's left
  22. band — a ring
  23. rest — what's left
  24. ball — a round shape

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