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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. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. We have nothing to ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. fall — to drop
  5. file — a tool
  6. fall — to drop
  7. degree — an amount
  8. degree — temperature
  9. rush — hurry
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. file — a document
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. shower — rain
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. degree — from a university
  16. fall — the season
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. file — a line of people
  19. shower — to wash
  20. cap — of ice
  21. cap — a hat
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. cap — a lid
  24. hide — to keep secret

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