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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 120 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. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  21. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. kick — in football
  4. mine — for digging
  5. cold — an illness
  6. fall — the season
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. fall — to drop
  9. shower — rain
  10. chair — a leader
  11. rock — a stone
  12. chair — to sit on
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. cold — not warm
  16. rock — music
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. rash — hasty
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. rock — to move gently
  21. fall — to drop
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. rash — a series
  24. cold — the Cold War

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