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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. We're on a ________________ here.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  24. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. ground — a position
  3. spell — letters
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. root — of a plant
  6. spell — a short time
  7. cold — an illness
  8. pit — in a race
  9. roll — a list
  10. roll — on a roll
  11. pit — a hole
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. pop — soda
  14. pop — music
  15. root — the cause
  16. roll — a cake
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. spell — magic
  19. pop — to visit
  20. mine — for digging
  21. ground — the earth
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. ground — crushed
  24. root — of a word

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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