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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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  8. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. I can't ________________ this cold.
  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. ground — crushed
  3. cell — a phone
  4. face — part of the head
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. face — to confront
  7. rule — a law
  8. stand — for spectators
  9. cold — an illness
  10. rule — government
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. cold — not warm
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. degree — temperature
  15. face — to point toward
  16. dip — to sink
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. cell — in biology
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. degree — from a university
  21. degree — an amount
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. stand — to bear
  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