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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 get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — a thrill
  2. ground — crushed
  3. cold — an illness
  4. wave — with your hand
  5. drill — the tool
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. safe — out of danger
  8. fall — to drop
  9. tear — to rip
  10. tear — from crying
  11. drill — a practice
  12. tear — from crying
  13. safe — a strongbox
  14. ground — a position
  15. safe — out of danger
  16. cold — not warm
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. fall — to drop
  19. ground — the earth
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. drill — army training
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. kick — in football
  24. fall — the season

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