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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. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — in a race
  2. cold — not warm
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. cold — an illness
  6. shower — to wash
  7. cap — a lid
  8. land — ground
  9. ground — the earth
  10. content — videos and posts
  11. cap — a hat
  12. land — to come down
  13. game — wild animals
  14. ground — a position
  15. ground — crushed
  16. shower — rain
  17. pit — a hole
  18. cap — of ice
  19. land — a country
  20. content — the amount
  21. game — a match
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. content — happy
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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