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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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. That was a fun ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. fall — to drop
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. fall — to drop
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. band — a ring
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. game — wild animals
  12. rush — hurry
  13. last — final
  14. kid — to tease
  15. last — finally
  16. kid — child
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. fall — the season
  19. game — a match
  20. shower — rain
  21. band — a music group
  22. last — to go on
  23. sharp — clever
  24. shower — to wash

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