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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  21. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. net — in sport
  4. rest — a break
  5. bark — to shout
  6. shower — rain
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. wind — moving air
  9. cell — a phone
  10. net — after costs
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. march — music
  14. net — for catching
  15. rest — what's left
  16. march — the month
  17. wound — an injury
  18. march — the month
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. rest — what's left
  21. cell — in biology
  22. wind — moving air
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. wound — an injury

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