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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. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  20. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. rule — government
  3. shower — to wash
  4. lean — thin
  5. last — final
  6. cold — not warm
  7. root — the cause
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. rule — a law
  10. last — to go on
  11. capital — a city
  12. scale — size or range
  13. scale — for weighing
  14. cold — an illness
  15. root — of a word
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. capital — money
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. lean — to bend
  20. root — of a plant
  21. scale — in music
  22. last — finally
  23. shower — rain
  24. capital — a big letter

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