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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. I can't ________________ this cold.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  18. The King held a masked ________________.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. The kitten curled into a ________________.

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. spell — letters
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. spell — magic
  6. branch — a division
  7. stand — to bear
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. ball — a great time
  11. spell — a short time
  12. band — a rubber band
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. band — a music group
  16. bat — the animal
  17. stand — for spectators
  18. ball — a dance
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. band — a ring
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  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