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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. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  15. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. cell — a phone
  4. wind — moving air
  5. wind — moving air
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. club — for dancing
  9. shower — rain
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. pop — music
  12. club — for golf
  13. dip — to sink
  14. dip — a sauce
  15. club — a group
  16. squash — to crush
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. cell — in biology
  19. pop — soda
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. pop — to visit
  22. bark — to shout
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. squash — the sport

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