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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. There's no middle ________________.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. I can't ________________ this cold.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. Have you settled on a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. ground — a position
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. ground — the earth
  6. cold — not warm
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. game — wild animals
  9. clip — for paper
  10. clip — a video
  11. date — the fruit
  12. game — a match
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. clip — to cut
  16. dip — to sink
  17. stand — for spectators
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. stand — to bear
  20. cold — an illness
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. date — on the calendar

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