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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 124 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 rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. shower — rain
  3. cold — not warm
  4. spring — of water
  5. spring — the season
  6. cold — an illness
  7. shower — to wash
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. file — a document
  10. firm — decided
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. file — a line of people
  13. spring — a coil
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. ball — a great time
  16. wound — an injury
  17. ball — a round shape
  18. wound — an injury
  19. drill — army training
  20. firm — a company
  21. drill — the tool
  22. ball — a dance
  23. firm — steady
  24. drill — a practice

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