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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. Have you settled on a ________________?
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  22. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. last — final
  3. shower — rain
  4. bore — gave birth
  5. cold — not warm
  6. bore — to tire
  7. last — to go on
  8. spell — a short time
  9. shower — to wash
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. object — to protest
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. cold — an illness
  17. last — finally
  18. bore — to drill
  19. object — an aim
  20. spell — magic
  21. sharp — clever
  22. object — a thing
  23. date — the fruit
  24. sharp — with an edge

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