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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  7. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. swing — to play on
  3. nail — on a finger
  4. shower — rain
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. present — there
  7. present — the time now
  8. hand — in cards
  9. ground — crushed
  10. shower — to wash
  11. present — a gift
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. nail — for a hammer
  14. wind — moving air
  15. ground — the earth
  16. swing — in golf
  17. spring — the season
  18. spring — a coil
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. hand — help
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. ground — a position
  23. spring — of water
  24. swing — music

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