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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 116 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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. David sat on the ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. ground — crushed
  3. ground — a position
  4. cold — not warm
  5. wound — an injury
  6. deal — to handle
  7. drill — army training
  8. drill — the tool
  9. cap — a hat
  10. drill — a practice
  11. swing — music
  12. wound — an injury
  13. cap — a lid
  14. cap — of ice
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. swing — in golf
  17. swing — to play on
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tear — from crying
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. deal — a big deal
  22. ground — the earth
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. tear — to rip

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