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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 120 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 refilled his coffee ________________.
  2. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. How do you ________________ your surname?
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. Where did you ________________ them?
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a cup
  2. spell — magic
  3. lean — thin
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cell — in biology
  6. spell — a short time
  7. cell — a phone
  8. pound — a weight
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. cold — not warm
  11. spell — letters
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. shower — to wash
  14. file — a tool
  15. shower — rain
  16. mug — a face
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. mug — to rob
  21. lean — to bend
  22. cold — an illness
  23. file — a line of people
  24. file — a document

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