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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. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  23. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. chest — of your body
  3. cold — an illness
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. patient — a sick person
  6. wax — to grow
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. chip — in a computer
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. chest — a box
  11. chip — for betting
  12. wind — moving air
  13. chest — of your body
  14. cell — a phone
  15. wind — moving air
  16. cold — not warm
  17. ground — crushed
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. cell — in biology
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. chip — to eat
  24. ground — the earth

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