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

  1. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. Have you settled on a ________________?
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. leaves — of a tree
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. leaves — to go away
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. bass — the instrument
  10. cold — an illness
  11. shower — to wash
  12. date — the fruit
  13. bass — the fish
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. bass — low music
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. cold — not warm

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