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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. I'll be taking the ________________.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  22. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. file — a document
  3. pop — to visit
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. ground — crushed
  6. wind — moving air
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. ground — the earth
  9. pop — music
  10. land — ground
  11. cold — not warm
  12. ground — a position
  13. tube — a container
  14. file — a tool
  15. land — to come down
  16. wind — moving air
  17. pop — soda
  18. cold — an illness
  19. lie — to recline
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. tube — in a tire
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. land — a country
  24. file — a line of people

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