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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  10. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. You don't need to ________________ round.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. cold — an illness
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. shower — rain
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. wake — to stop sleeping
  8. cold — not warm
  9. wake — before a funeral
  10. bore — to tire
  11. rule — a law
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. stock — goods
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. wake — a trail
  16. stock — shares
  17. bore — to drill
  18. shower — to wash
  19. pop — soda
  20. pop — to visit
  21. rule — government
  22. band — a ring
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. pop — 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