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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. craft — boats
  5. root — of a word
  6. row — a line
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. mine — for digging
  9. craft — a skill
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. shower — rain
  12. race — humankind
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. ball — a great time
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. root — of a plant
  17. rush — hurry
  18. row — to paddle
  19. craft — a handicraft
  20. race — a contest
  21. ball — a dance
  22. root — the cause
  23. race — the arms race
  24. rush — a thrill

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