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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. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. shower — to wash
  3. land — ground
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. file — a document
  6. last — to go on
  7. land — to come down
  8. net — after costs
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. last — finally
  11. net — for catching
  12. land — a country
  13. clip — for paper
  14. file — a line of people
  15. file — a tool
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. last — final
  18. shower — rain
  19. bowl — a dish
  20. clip — to cut
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. clip — a video
  23. net — in sport
  24. bowl — a football final

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