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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. prune — to trim
  4. chip — in a computer
  5. cold — not warm
  6. track — to keep track
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. shower — to wash
  10. cold — an illness
  11. shower — rain
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. prune — to trim
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. chip — to eat
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. track — a song
  18. face — part of the head
  19. face — to point toward
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. face — to confront
  22. chip — for betting
  23. track — a path
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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