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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 thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  22. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.

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

Answer key

  1. mouse — the animal
  2. shower — rain
  3. shower — to wash
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. ruler — a monarch
  6. cold — an illness
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. mouse — for a computer
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. tear — from crying
  12. clip — to cut
  13. clip — for paper
  14. cell — a phone
  15. tear — to rip
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cell — in biology
  18. clip — a video
  19. squash — the sport
  20. tear — from crying
  21. mouse — the animal
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. squash — to crush
  24. ruler — for measuring

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