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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  16. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. chest — of your body
  3. pop — soda
  4. season — of the year
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. ground — the earth
  7. file — a line of people
  8. cold — not warm
  9. file — a document
  10. cold — an illness
  11. face — part of the head
  12. chest — of your body
  13. pop — music
  14. face — to confront
  15. ground — crushed
  16. face — to point toward
  17. season — in sport
  18. fall — to drop
  19. chest — a box
  20. ground — a position
  21. file — a tool
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. fall — to drop
  24. fall — the season

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