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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  5. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. cold — not warm
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. cap — a hat
  5. face — to point toward
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cap — of ice
  9. face — to confront
  10. band — a music group
  11. dip — to sink
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. wind — moving air
  14. mine — for digging
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. wind — moving air
  17. band — a ring
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. face — part of the head
  21. pitch — completely
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. cap — a lid
  24. dip — a sauce

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