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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 120 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 was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. rule — government
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. ground — crushed
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. rash — hasty
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. rash — a series
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. bat — the animal
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. ground — a position
  16. cold — not warm
  17. hand — in cards
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. mine — for digging
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. rule — a law
  22. ground — the earth
  23. hand — help
  24. bat — for baseball

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