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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. What do you think of the new ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. wind — moving air
  3. swing — to play on
  4. last — final
  5. game — wild animals
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. clip — a video
  9. last — to go on
  10. trunk — of an elephant
  11. swing — in golf
  12. last — finally
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. game — a match
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. wind — moving air
  17. clip — to cut
  18. shower — to wash
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. clip — for paper
  21. swing — music
  22. cabinet — ministers
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. cabinet — ministers

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