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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. chest — a box
  3. file — a line of people
  4. fall — to drop
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. pass — to spend time
  7. saw — the tool
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. drill — a practice
  10. file — a document
  11. chest — of your body
  12. fall — to drop
  13. ground — the earth
  14. drill — army training
  15. cold — not warm
  16. fall — the season
  17. ground — crushed
  18. drill — the tool
  19. cold — an illness
  20. pass — to succeed
  21. chest — of your body
  22. saw — the tool
  23. pass — a permit
  24. file — a tool

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