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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. ground — a position
  3. wind — moving air
  4. mug — a cup
  5. ground — the earth
  6. wound — an injury
  7. current — electric
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. current — happening now
  10. mug — to rob
  11. rest — a break
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. rest — what's left
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. current — of water
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. ground — crushed
  19. cold — an illness
  20. rest — what's left
  21. wind — moving air
  22. mug — a face
  23. chair — a leader
  24. wound — an injury

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