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

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. 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 — hurry
  2. shower — rain
  3. last — to go on
  4. cold — not warm
  5. field — a subject
  6. field — farmland
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. cold — an illness
  9. shower — to wash
  10. last — finally
  11. rule — to rule out
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. field — for sport
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. rule — a law
  17. last — final
  18. 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