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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 124 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 met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. The tickets are free of ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  10. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. dip — a sauce
  3. shower — rain
  4. charge — electricity
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. charge — a price
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. bark — a dog's sound
  10. sharp — with an edge
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. bark — to shout
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. cold — an illness
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. cold — not warm
  18. dip — to dunk
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. dip — to sink
  21. sharp — clever
  22. shower — to wash
  23. charge — in control
  24. mine — for digging

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