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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  14. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The tickets are free of ________________.
  20. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  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. shower — rain
  4. fine — all right
  5. spell — a short time
  6. spell — magic
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. chest — of your body
  9. charge — electricity
  10. file — a tool
  11. spell — letters
  12. race — humankind
  13. fine — a penalty
  14. race — a contest
  15. file — a document
  16. fine — high quality
  17. shower — to wash
  18. file — a line of people
  19. charge — a price
  20. charge — in control
  21. chest — a box
  22. chest — of your body
  23. race — the arms race
  24. ground — the earth

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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