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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. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a grade
  2. shower — to wash
  3. shower — rain
  4. cold — an illness
  5. last — final
  6. wind — moving air
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. mine — for digging
  10. pass — to succeed
  11. cold — not warm
  12. file — a document
  13. file — a tool
  14. pass — to spend time
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. pass — a permit
  18. mark — a trace
  19. file — a line of people
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. wind — moving air
  22. last — finally
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. last — to go on

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