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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. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  9. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  12. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. chest — a box
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. bass — the fish
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. bass — low music
  7. wound — an injury
  8. chair — to sit on
  9. roll — a cake
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chair — a leader
  12. date — the fruit
  13. cold — an illness
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. shower — to wash
  18. wound — an injury
  19. cold — not warm
  20. chest — of your body
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. roll — a list
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. bass — the instrument

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