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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. cold — an illness
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. cold — not warm
  5. file — a document
  6. last — to go on
  7. last — finally
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. last — final
  10. wind — moving air
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. file — a tool
  13. shower — rain
  14. stick — to attach or keep to
  15. file — a line of people
  16. shower — to wash
  17. stick — a piece of wood
  18. stick — a piece of wood

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