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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. cell — in biology
  4. land — ground
  5. shower — rain
  6. saw — the tool
  7. cold — an illness
  8. land — a country
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. rest — what's left
  11. rest — a break
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. rest — what's left
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. cell — a phone
  16. saw — the tool
  17. cold — not warm
  18. land — to come down

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