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

Word bank: ground · rock · snap · tear · branch · dip · wave · cold

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  17. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. dip — a sauce
  4. ground — crushed
  5. tear — from crying
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. tear — from crying
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. dip — to sink
  10. wave — of the sea
  11. ground — the earth
  12. branch — a division
  13. cold — not warm
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. cold — an illness
  16. dip — to dunk
  17. wave — with your hand
  18. snap — to click
  19. rock — a stone
  20. tear — to rip
  21. ground — a position
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. wave — a sudden rise
  24. cold — the Cold War

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