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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. Where did you ________________ them?
  24. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. last — finally
  3. spring — the season
  4. shower — to wash
  5. mug — a face
  6. drill — army training
  7. dip — to sink
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. scale — in music
  13. mug — a cup
  14. drill — the tool
  15. drill — a practice
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — of water
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. scale — size or range
  20. shower — rain
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. last — to go on
  23. mug — to rob
  24. kick — in football

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