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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 took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. cold — not warm
  3. march — the month
  4. shower — to wash
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. wound — an injury
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. cell — a phone
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cell — in biology
  11. march — the month
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. tear — to rip
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. pass — to succeed
  16. tear — from crying
  17. wound — an injury
  18. march — music
  19. tear — from crying
  20. pass — a permit
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. sharp — clever
  24. sharp — with an edge

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