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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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. net — in sport
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. track — to keep track
  5. cell — in biology
  6. net — after costs
  7. track — a path
  8. cell — a phone
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. track — a song
  14. cold — not warm
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. deal — to handle
  17. shower — rain
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. net — for catching
  20. file — a document
  21. cold — an illness
  22. file — a tool
  23. shower — to wash
  24. file — a line of people

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