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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. ground — the earth
  3. chest — of your body
  4. wind — moving air
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. hand — in cards
  7. chest — of your body
  8. rule — a law
  9. pop — music
  10. pop — to visit
  11. hand — help
  12. land — to come down
  13. race — the arms race
  14. rule — government
  15. pop — soda
  16. race — humankind
  17. chest — a box
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. race — a contest
  20. land — a country
  21. ground — a position
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. land — ground
  24. ground — crushed

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