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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 116 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 sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. prune — to trim
  3. cold — an illness
  4. shower — to wash
  5. bat — the animal
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. cold — not warm
  8. prune — to trim
  9. wind — moving air
  10. bass — low music
  11. shower — rain
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. current — electric
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. bass — the instrument
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. current — of water
  19. bass — the fish
  20. wave — of the sea
  21. wind — moving air
  22. wave — a sudden rise
  23. current — happening now
  24. wave — with your hand

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