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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. shower — rain
  3. chair — to sit on
  4. ground — crushed
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. field — for sport
  7. cold — not warm
  8. march — the month
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. chair — a leader
  11. ground — the earth
  12. dip — to sink
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. ground — a position
  15. field — a subject
  16. march — music
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. kick — with a leg
  19. kick — in football
  20. march — the month
  21. field — farmland
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cold — an illness

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