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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's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  24. He was locked up in 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. pitcher — a jug
  4. drill — army training
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. chip — in a computer
  7. cell — in biology
  8. field — farmland
  9. lean — to bend
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. chest — a box
  12. chest — of your body
  13. chip — for betting
  14. drill — the tool
  15. lean — thin
  16. drill — a practice
  17. field — for sport
  18. chip — to eat
  19. cell — a phone
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. chest — of your body
  23. field — a subject
  24. cell — in a prison

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