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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  11. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  20. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. ground — crushed
  3. can — a tin
  4. net — for catching
  5. ground — a position
  6. game — a match
  7. game — wild animals
  8. can — to be able to
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. calf — of the leg
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. cell — a phone
  13. cell — in biology
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. swing — to play on
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. ground — the earth
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. net — after costs
  20. can — a tin
  21. swing — music
  22. cold — an illness
  23. swing — in golf
  24. net — in sport

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