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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. pound — for dogs
  3. pound — a weight
  4. last — final
  5. shower — rain
  6. drill — army training
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. hand — in cards
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. saw — the tool
  11. drill — the tool
  12. deal — to handle
  13. spring — the season
  14. last — finally
  15. pound — to hit hard
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. spring — of water
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. drill — a practice
  20. hand — help
  21. saw — the tool
  22. last — to go on
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. spring — a coil

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