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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. file — a tool
  3. rash — a series
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. shower — to wash
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. game — wild animals
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. cell — a phone
  14. file — a document
  15. bass — the fish
  16. shower — rain
  17. game — a match
  18. bass — low music
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. cold — not warm
  21. file — a line of people
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. cell — in biology
  24. rash — hasty

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