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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  8. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  14. The tickets are free of ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. shower — to wash
  3. net — after costs
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. charge — electricity
  8. fan — to cool the air
  9. cell — in biology
  10. net — for catching
  11. cell — a phone
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. charge — in control
  14. charge — a price
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. shower — rain
  17. net — in sport
  18. cold — an illness

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