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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 116 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. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. club — for dancing
  4. wind — moving air
  5. club — a group
  6. club — for golf
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. face — to confront
  9. ground — a position
  10. ground — the earth
  11. face — part of the head
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. ground — crushed
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. face — to point toward
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. cold — not warm
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. trunk — of a tree
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. cold — an illness
  24. snap — to click

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