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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 120 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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Don't do anything ________________.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. My father caught me by the ________________.
  15. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  16. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  21. Where did you ________________ them?
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. mine — for digging
  3. shower — rain
  4. mug — a cup
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. rash — hasty
  7. degree — an amount
  8. shower — to wash
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. cold — an illness
  11. degree — from a university
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. degree — temperature
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. foot — the bottom
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. foot — part of the body
  19. cold — not warm
  20. foot — a measure
  21. mug — to rob
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. rash — a series

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