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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. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  2. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  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. sharp — with an edge
  2. lash — an eyelash
  3. ground — the earth
  4. wind — moving air
  5. current — of water
  6. wind — moving air
  7. ground — crushed
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. fan — to cool the air
  11. cold — not warm
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. tear — from crying
  14. current — happening now
  15. ground — a position
  16. tear — from crying
  17. sharp — clever
  18. cold — an illness
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. current — electric
  23. tear — to rip
  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