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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 120 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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  4. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. bass — low music
  3. face — to point toward
  4. patient — a sick person
  5. file — a line of people
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. file — a document
  9. shower — rain
  10. face — part of the head
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. chest — a box
  13. chest — of your body
  14. face — to confront
  15. bass — the fish
  16. file — a tool
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. chest — of your body

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