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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  6. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. He works in a ________________ mill.
  12. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. club — for dancing
  3. saw — the tool
  4. file — a document
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. saw — past of 'see'
  7. land — ground
  8. file — a line of people
  9. wind — moving air
  10. land — to come down
  11. saw — the tool
  12. club — for golf
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. club — a group
  15. land — a country
  16. shower — rain
  17. file — a tool
  18. snap — to snap out of it
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. snap — to click
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. wind — moving air
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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