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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 water is too ________________.
  2. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  6. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  7. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The tickets are free of ________________.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  14. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  15. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. rash — hasty
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. charge — electricity
  6. bowl — to roll
  7. bowl — a dish
  8. chest — a box
  9. wax — to grow
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. charge — a price
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. bowl — a football final
  14. wax — for sculpting
  15. chest — of your body
  16. chest — of your body
  17. rash — a series
  18. wind — moving air
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. cold — an illness
  21. wax — in the ear
  22. dip — to sink
  23. charge — in control
  24. cold — the Cold War

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