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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 120 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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  7. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. ground — the earth
  3. spell — letters
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. spell — a short time
  6. rest — what's left
  7. pound — a weight
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. pound — for dogs
  10. row — to paddle
  11. file — a line of people
  12. row — a line
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. ground — crushed
  17. rest — what's left
  18. file — a document
  19. file — a tool
  20. spell — magic
  21. rest — a break
  22. ground — a position
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. cold — not warm

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