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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. Don't do anything ________________.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. ground — crushed
  3. ground — a position
  4. cold — an illness
  5. net — for catching
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. net — after costs
  8. cold — not warm
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. rest — a break
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. ground — the earth
  16. rash — a series
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. net — in sport
  19. rash — hasty
  20. rest — what's left
  21. rest — what's left
  22. lash — an eyelash
  23. bat — the animal
  24. bat — for baseball

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