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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. land — a country
  4. pit — a hole
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. wound — an injury
  7. land — ground
  8. chair — a leader
  9. pit — a fruit stone
  10. fork — in a road
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. fall — the season
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. land — to come down
  16. pit — in a race
  17. shower — rain
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. fall — to drop
  20. wound — an injury
  21. chair — a professorship
  22. fall — to drop
  23. chair — to sit on
  24. shower — to wash

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