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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 116 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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Where did you ________________ them?
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. mug — to rob
  3. row — a line
  4. row — to paddle
  5. wound — an injury
  6. face — to confront
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. mug — a cup
  10. wound — an injury
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. shower — rain
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. face — to point toward
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. straw — to clutch at straws
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. pound — to hit hard
  20. face — part of the head
  21. branch — a division
  22. mug — a face
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. pound — a weight

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