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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. When are we going to ________________?
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  11. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  12. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  17. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. ground — a position
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. cold — not warm
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. land — ground
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. cue — a signal
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cue — a hint
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. cue — for pool
  13. ground — crushed
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. land — a country
  16. ground — the earth
  17. lie — to recline
  18. wound — an injury
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. rule — government
  22. rule — a law
  23. wound — an injury
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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