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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. The ________________ went through the wall.
  2. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  3. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  10. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — for a hammer
  2. nail — for a hammer
  3. calf — of the leg
  4. file — a line of people
  5. spell — letters
  6. court — of law
  7. current — of water
  8. court — for sport
  9. current — electric
  10. calf — a young animal
  11. cold — an illness
  12. file — a document
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. file — a tool
  15. shower — to wash
  16. court — of a king
  17. spell — a short time
  18. shower — rain
  19. spell — magic
  20. cold — not warm
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. current — happening now
  23. nail — on a finger
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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