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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. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. What do you think of the new ________________?
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. wound — an injury
  3. wind — moving air
  4. pop — soda
  5. pop — to visit
  6. file — a document
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. wind — moving air
  10. ground — the earth
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. land — a country
  14. cabinet — a cupboard
  15. pop — music
  16. land — ground
  17. file — a tool
  18. ground — crushed
  19. land — to come down
  20. ground — a position
  21. file — a line of people
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. wound — an injury

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