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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. cold — an illness
  3. kid — to tease
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. chest — of your body
  6. snap — to click
  7. ground — a position
  8. land — a country
  9. land — to come down
  10. pass — a permit
  11. cold — not warm
  12. snap — to speak sharply
  13. fork — in a road
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. ground — the earth
  16. chest — of your body
  17. pass — to succeed
  18. land — ground
  19. ground — crushed
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. kid — child
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. fork — to eat with
  24. chest — a box

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