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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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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: ball · cold · rule · land · rush · snap · face · straw

  1. That must've been a ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. rule — a law
  4. land — a country
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. ball — a great time
  8. land — to come down
  9. face — to confront
  10. face — to point toward
  11. face — part of the head
  12. land — ground
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. rush — hurry
  15. ball — a dance
  16. ball — a round shape
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. snap — to click
  20. cold — not warm
  21. rush — to hurry
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. cold — an illness
  24. rule — government

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