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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. When was this ________________ built?
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. clip — for paper
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. vault — an arched ceiling
  5. last — to go on
  6. vault — a safe
  7. pop — to visit
  8. clip — a video
  9. last — final
  10. vault — in gymnastics
  11. clip — to cut
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. pop — soda
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. cold — not warm
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. last — finally
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. cold — an illness
  21. shower — to wash
  22. temple — a place of worship
  23. temple — side of the head
  24. pop — music

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