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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 dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. My mare is ________________ in color.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  20. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  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. shower — a meteor shower
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — not warm
  4. chest — of your body
  5. bay — a horse colour
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. present — there
  8. chest — a box
  9. spring — the season
  10. spring — a coil
  11. present — the time now
  12. bay — to keep at bay
  13. shower — to wash
  14. fork — in a road
  15. spring — of water
  16. chest — of your body
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. file — a document
  19. bay — a part of the sea
  20. present — a gift
  21. shower — rain
  22. file — a tool
  23. fork — to eat with
  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