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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Have you met the new head ________________?
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. cold — an illness
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. land — to come down
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. rest — what's left
  9. land — a country
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. cold — not warm
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. pass — to succeed
  14. rest — a break
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. chest — of your body
  17. rest — what's left
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. wind — moving air
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. pass — a permit
  22. wind — moving air
  23. chest — a box
  24. chest — of your body

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