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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. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  17. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. game — a match
  4. foot — part of the body
  5. game — wild animals
  6. shower — rain
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. march — the month
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. march — the month
  14. foot — a measure
  15. cold — an illness
  16. march — music
  17. foot — the bottom
  18. shower — to wash
  19. mine — for digging
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. cold — not warm
  23. bowl — a dish
  24. cold — the Cold War

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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