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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. leaves — lets stay
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. cold — an illness
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. capital — money
  10. shower — rain
  11. rush — hurry
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. bear — the animal
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. rock — a stone
  16. capital — a city
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. cold — not warm
  19. bear — the animal
  20. shower — to wash
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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