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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  6. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  9. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I have a corn on my right ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. root — of a plant
  5. foot — the bottom
  6. foot — a measure
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. tube — in a tire
  9. root — the cause
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. clip — to cut
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. wave — of the sea
  15. clip — a video
  16. cold — not warm
  17. shower — to wash
  18. wave — with your hand
  19. tube — the underground
  20. clip — for paper
  21. root — of a word
  22. tube — a container
  23. cold — an illness
  24. foot — part of the body

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