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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  8. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. can — a tin
  4. clip — to cut
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. clip — for paper
  7. can — to be able to
  8. can — a tin
  9. shower — to wash
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. wake — a trail
  12. clip — a video
  13. game — wild animals
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. fan — a supporter
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. root — of a plant
  18. game — a match
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. root — the cause
  21. shower — rain
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. root — of a word
  24. pitcher — a jug

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