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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  15. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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. row — a quarrel
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — an illness
  9. ball — a great time
  10. mine — for digging
  11. rule — government
  12. cold — not warm
  13. row — a line
  14. deal — an agreement
  15. deal — to handle
  16. row — to paddle
  17. rule — a law
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. ball — a dance
  21. shower — to wash
  22. clip — a video
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. clip — to cut

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