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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.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  12. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. wind — moving air
  3. spell — letters
  4. spell — a short time
  5. wind — moving air
  6. kid — child
  7. chair — a leader
  8. shower — rain
  9. chest — of your body
  10. spell — magic
  11. lash — to lash out
  12. lash — an eyelash
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. ground — the earth
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. ground — a position
  17. kid — to tease
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. chest — of your body
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. chest — a box
  23. shower — to wash
  24. kid — young goat (kid gloves)

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