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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: kick · tear · cold · dip · wind · ground

  1. There's no middle ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tear — from crying
  4. cold — an illness
  5. wind — moving air
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. wind — moving air
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. tear — to rip
  10. dip — to dunk
  11. ground — the earth
  12. cold — not warm
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. ground — crushed
  15. dip — to sink
  16. kick — in football
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. wind — to turn a key

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