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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 ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  9. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  10. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. wind — moving air
  3. last — to go on
  4. last — final
  5. wound — an injury
  6. object — an aim
  7. ball — a dance
  8. ball — a great time
  9. current — of water
  10. object — to protest
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. current — happening now
  13. last — finally
  14. object — a thing
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. shower — to wash
  17. wind — moving air
  18. fan — a supporter
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. wound — an injury
  22. current — electric
  23. shower — rain
  24. ball — a round shape

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