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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. When will it ________________ you to start?
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. chest — a box
  3. suit — to fit
  4. ground — a position
  5. chair — a leader
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. wake — a trail
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. dip — a sauce
  10. file — a tool
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. cold — an illness
  13. suit — in cards
  14. chest — of your body
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. suit — clothes
  18. cold — not warm
  19. file — a line of people
  20. file — a document
  21. ground — the earth
  22. chest — of your body
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. dip — to sink

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