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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. cold — an illness
  3. spring — a coil
  4. spring — the season
  5. rule — a law
  6. cap — of ice
  7. swing — to play on
  8. chest — of your body
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. shower — to wash
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. spring — of water
  14. chest — a box
  15. season — of the year
  16. chest — of your body
  17. rule — to rule out
  18. season — in sport
  19. rule — government
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cap — a lid
  22. swing — in golf
  23. swing — music
  24. cap — a hat

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