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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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Where did you ________________ them?
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. land — to come down
  4. land — ground
  5. mug — a cup
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — not warm
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. file — a document
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. ground — crushed
  13. bass — low music
  14. file — a line of people
  15. ground — the earth
  16. season — of the year
  17. bass — the fish
  18. land — a country
  19. ground — a position
  20. season — in sport
  21. file — a tool
  22. mug — to rob
  23. rush — hurry
  24. season — to add flavour

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