Words with Multiple Meanings (WMM6)

I don't like acronyms very much, but for the sake of brevity in the future, I will refer to these 'Words with Multiple Meanings' (CAE, Part 4, Use of English paper) as WMMs. For those students and teachers who are prepping for the Cambridge Use of English paper or who are building vocabulary for your classes, these word puzzles may be of interest to you.

Not only is the spelling of English challenging, but also the multiple meanings of its enormous lexicon can drive you crazy. If you decide to be intrigued by these features, it will make the mastery of the language more pleasurable. For the curious who've just visited 'Many Englishes' for the first time, there are already 22 different examples of WMMs up on this blog. Today's post will add an additional five (15 sentences) WMMs. Enjoy!

(I am making these exercises easily printable by putting them into a Google document which you can click on at the end of the post.)


Fill in the blanks with one word that fits in each sentence. The word form is the same in each of the three sentences (one set).

1. Janice's mom is not pleased that her daughter works the night ________.
After you have braces, if you don't continue wearing your retainers, your teeth will ______.
There has been a ______ in values over the past few decades, which is why so many people are in debt.

2. Tomorrow I am ______ for Hawaii.
The new book by John Grisham is ______ to be tension-filled.
I had ______ the parcel with string instead of tape, so the post office told me to redo the packaging.

3. The airlines attendant told the basketball players to _____ their heads as they boarded the plane.
Spoiled children often don't ______ the teacher at school, which creates a lot of discipline problems.
'Are you out of your ______?!' was the reaction of the boss when she asked for a 25% raise.

4. Christian gave a very ______ speech which moved everyone to tears.
______ a snake can be very dangerous if you don't know what kind it is.
This eye disease can be spread by rubbing the infected eye and then _______ the other one.

5. Students ______ turns playing the game.
My brother ______ the trash out to the curb every week when he was young.
Even though it's not that far from San Diego, John _____ a plane to get to Los Angeles.

Printable version



Answers: 1. shift 2. bound 3. mind 4. touching 5. took