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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The spa offers ________________ extensions.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. ground — crushed
  3. ground — a position
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. wound — an injury
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. land — to come down
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. land — ground
  12. pass — to succeed
  13. wound — an injury
  14. pass — to spend time
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — not warm
  17. pass — a permit
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. land — a country
  20. ground — the earth
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. rock — a stone
  23. cold — an illness
  24. lash — an eyelash

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