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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  12. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  13. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. We're on a ________________ here.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  23. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. wound — an injury
  3. clip — a video
  4. shower — to wash
  5. last — final
  6. clip — to cut
  7. last — to go on
  8. roll — a cake
  9. cold — not warm
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. bank — of a river
  12. bank — for money
  13. foot — part of the body
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. roll — a list
  16. roll — on a roll
  17. wound — an injury
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. last — finally
  20. clip — for paper
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. bank — for money
  23. foot — a measure
  24. cold — an illness

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