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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. That was ________________ to happen.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. I can't ________________ this cold.
  17. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — certain
  2. cold — not warm
  3. shower — rain
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. fall — the season
  6. file — a tool
  7. mine — for digging
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. cap — of ice
  10. shower — to wash
  11. bound — obliged
  12. stand — for spectators
  13. file — a document
  14. stand — on your feet
  15. fall — to drop
  16. stand — to bear
  17. bound — tied together
  18. fall — to drop
  19. cap — a lid
  20. file — a line of people
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. cap — a hat
  23. cold — an illness
  24. mine — an explosive

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