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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. club — for dancing
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. club — a group
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. cold — not warm
  8. stock — goods
  9. stock — shares
  10. cold — an illness
  11. trunk — of a tree
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. club — for golf
  16. shower — rain
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. leaves — lets stay
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. plane — a tool
  22. shower — to wash
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. plane — in geometry

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