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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  19. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  23. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  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. cold — an illness
  2. ground — a position
  3. rash — a series
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. wind — moving air
  6. fall — to drop
  7. cold — not warm
  8. rash — hasty
  9. chip — to eat
  10. face — to point toward
  11. fall — the season
  12. rash — on the skin
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. wind — moving air
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. face — to confront
  19. face — part of the head
  20. chip — for betting
  21. fall — to drop
  22. chip — in a computer
  23. ground — crushed
  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