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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 116 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. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  9. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  10. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. ground — a position
  6. ground — the earth
  7. wound — an injury
  8. pass — a permit
  9. kick — in football
  10. pass — to succeed
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. squash — the sport
  13. wound — an injury
  14. cold — an illness
  15. face — to point toward
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. ground — crushed
  18. cold — not warm
  19. stem — to come from
  20. face — to confront
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. squash — to crush
  24. kick — with a leg

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