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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. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. present — the time now
  2. wind — moving air
  3. land — to come down
  4. lie — to recline
  5. shower — to wash
  6. present — a gift
  7. file — a tool
  8. ground — crushed
  9. present — there
  10. ground — a position
  11. land — ground
  12. lie — an untruth
  13. file — a document
  14. shower — rain
  15. wind — moving air
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. bound — tied together
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. bound — obliged
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. file — a line of people
  22. bound — certain
  23. land — a country
  24. ground — the earth

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