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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 124 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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. David sat on the ________________.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  19. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  20. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. capital — a city
  5. rash — hasty
  6. chest — of your body
  7. shower — to wash
  8. cold — not warm
  9. swing — to play on
  10. net — in sport
  11. net — for catching
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. capital — money
  14. fork — in a road
  15. swing — in golf
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. swing — music
  18. chest — of your body
  19. fork — to eat with
  20. rash — a series
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. chest — a box
  23. cold — an illness
  24. net — after costs

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