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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. pass — a permit
  3. ground — crushed
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. spring — the season
  6. cold — an illness
  7. ground — the earth
  8. ground — a position
  9. spring — of water
  10. capital — money
  11. pass — to succeed
  12. last — finally
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. season — in sport
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. pass — to spend time
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. last — to go on
  20. capital — a city
  21. wake — a trail
  22. season — of the year
  23. last — final
  24. spring — a coil

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