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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 water is too ________________.
  2. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  9. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. firm — a company
  3. ground — the earth
  4. trunk — of a tree
  5. face — to point toward
  6. spring — of water
  7. cold — an illness
  8. firm — decided
  9. fine — a penalty
  10. firm — steady
  11. fine — high quality
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. ground — a position
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. shower — to wash
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. face — to confront
  18. spring — a coil
  19. trunk — of a car
  20. ground — crushed
  21. fine — all right
  22. shower — rain
  23. spring — the season
  24. face — part of the head

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