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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  8. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. cap — of ice
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. capital — a city
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. plane — a tool
  8. lash — a whip stroke
  9. wound — an injury
  10. sharp — clever
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. lash — to lash out
  13. cap — a hat
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. wound — an injury
  16. capital — money
  17. file — a document
  18. plane — in geometry
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. file — a line of people
  21. file — a tool
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. cap — a lid
  24. shower — to wash

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