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

Word bank: cold · wind · wound · ground · racket · last · row · snap

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  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. row — a line
  2. wind — moving air
  3. last — to go on
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. ground — a position
  7. row — to paddle
  8. wound — an injury
  9. last — finally
  10. cold — not warm
  11. snap — to click
  12. wind — moving air
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. last — final
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. snap — to snap out of it
  17. wound — an injury
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. ground — crushed
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. cold — an illness
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. racket — for tennis
  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