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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. How do you ________________ your surname?
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. cap — a hat
  3. snap — to click
  4. spell — letters
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. cap — of ice
  8. cold — not warm
  9. rash — a series
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. cap — a lid
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. lie — to recline
  14. rash — hasty
  15. wind — moving air
  16. wake — before a funeral
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. spell — magic
  20. spell — a short time
  21. cold — an illness
  22. wake — a trail
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. cold — the Cold War

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