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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. land — a country
  7. cold — an illness
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. shower — rain
  10. perch — the fish
  11. land — to come down
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. land — ground
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. shower — to wash
  17. cold — not warm
  18. kick — in football

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