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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 120 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. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. rule — a law
  3. ground — the earth
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. spell — magic
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. rule — to rule out
  8. rash — hasty
  9. spell — letters
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. rule — government
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. cell — in biology
  14. dip — to sink
  15. hand — help
  16. bat — the animal
  17. ground — crushed
  18. hand — in cards
  19. cell — a phone
  20. spell — a short time
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. rash — a series
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. dip — to dunk

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