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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 King held a masked ________________.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a dance
  2. file — a document
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. file — a line of people
  5. staff — employees
  6. fall — to drop
  7. ground — crushed
  8. ground — a position
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. mine — for digging
  11. season — of the year
  12. cold — an illness
  13. ground — the earth
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. file — a tool
  17. staff — a stick
  18. fall — to drop
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. ball — a great time
  22. season — in sport
  23. staff — employees
  24. fall — the season

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