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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  19. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. I can't ________________ this cold.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. current — happening now
  3. lean — to bend
  4. wound — an injury
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. stand — for spectators
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. plane — in geometry
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. plane — a tool
  12. cold — an illness
  13. current — of water
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. cold — not warm
  18. lean — thin
  19. stand — on your feet
  20. ground — a position
  21. wound — an injury
  22. current — electric
  23. stand — to bear
  24. ground — the earth

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