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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 120 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 ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  2. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. Should I buy a wireless ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. ground — the earth
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. cold — not warm
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wound — an injury
  8. degree — an amount
  9. mouse — the animal
  10. face — part of the head
  11. face — to confront
  12. ground — crushed
  13. rash — hasty
  14. rash — a series
  15. degree — temperature
  16. file — a document
  17. degree — from a university
  18. ground — a position
  19. face — to point toward
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. file — a tool
  22. file — a line of people
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. mouse — for a computer

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