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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. ground — the earth
  3. face — to point toward
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. wound — an injury
  6. cold — an illness
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. chest — of your body
  9. ground — a position
  10. face — part of the head
  11. ground — crushed
  12. wound — an injury
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. chest — a box
  15. land — ground
  16. rash — hasty
  17. rash — a series
  18. chest — of your body
  19. land — to come down
  20. face — to confront
  21. pit — in a race
  22. cold — not warm
  23. land — a country
  24. pit — a hole

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