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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. cold — not warm
  4. rush — hurry
  5. ground — the earth
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. foot — part of the body
  8. ground — a position
  9. rash — a series
  10. fork — in a road
  11. cell — a phone
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. rash — hasty
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. row — a line
  16. foot — a measure
  17. row — to paddle
  18. cold — an illness
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cell — in biology
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. cell — in a prison

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