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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  12. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. When are we going to ________________?
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. hand — help
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. hand — in cards
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. rock — music
  8. land — ground
  9. cold — not warm
  10. branch — a division
  11. rock — a stone
  12. branch — of a bank
  13. cold — an illness
  14. swing — to play on
  15. land — to come down
  16. wake — a trail
  17. land — a country
  18. shower — to wash
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. swing — in golf
  21. shower — rain
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. swing — music

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