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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. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. You don't need to ________________ round.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. We're almost out of ________________.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The tickets are free of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. charge — in control
  3. cold — not warm
  4. court — of law
  5. pop — to visit
  6. ground — a position
  7. pop — soda
  8. hand — help
  9. cold — an illness
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bat — the animal
  14. ground — the earth
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. court — for sport
  17. hand — in cards
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. ground — crushed
  20. charge — electricity
  21. lean — to bend
  22. pop — music
  23. court — of a king
  24. charge — a price

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