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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. The tickets are free of ________________.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  20. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Don't do anything ________________.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. cold — an illness
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. face — to point toward
  5. cap — a lid
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. charge — a price
  10. bark — to shout
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. charge — electricity
  13. face — part of the head
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. cap — a hat
  16. wound — an injury
  17. cap — of ice
  18. wound — an injury
  19. face — to confront
  20. charge — in control
  21. rash — a series
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. rash — hasty
  24. bat — the animal

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