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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. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I've got to change the light ________________.
  8. My father caught me by the ________________.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  12. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  15. The light ________________ burned out.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  23. Did you ________________ the button?
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. ground — a position
  3. wind — moving air
  4. cold — not warm
  5. ground — crushed
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. bulb — for light
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. stock — shares
  10. ground — the earth
  11. press — a publisher
  12. press — newspapers
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. bulb — of a plant
  15. bulb — for light
  16. cold — an illness
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. shower — to wash
  19. stock — goods
  20. shower — rain
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. arm — a part of something
  23. press — to push
  24. wind — moving air

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