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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. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  7. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  15. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  16. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  17. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — the most admired
  2. shower — to wash
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. pop — music
  5. cold — an illness
  6. roll — a list
  7. toast — bread
  8. cold — not warm
  9. toast — a drink to someone
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. swing — to play on
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. swing — in golf
  14. roll — a cake
  15. plane — a tool
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. plane — in geometry
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. pop — to visit
  22. swing — music
  23. shower — rain
  24. pop — soda

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