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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  6. The tickets are free of ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  9. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. I can't ________________ this cold.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. pass — a permit
  3. clip — for paper
  4. kid — to tease
  5. stand — for spectators
  6. charge — a price
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. charge — in control
  9. stand — on your feet
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. spring — the season
  12. mine — for digging
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. charge — electricity
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. pass — to succeed
  17. shower — to wash
  18. pass — to spend time
  19. clip — to cut
  20. spring — of water
  21. stand — to bear
  22. spring — a coil
  23. kid — child
  24. clip — a video

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