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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. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  18. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. saw — the tool
  3. spring — the season
  4. saw — the tool
  5. hide — to keep secret
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. cold — an illness
  9. shower — rain
  10. shower — to wash
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. cold — not warm
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. spring — a coil
  17. wax — for sculpting
  18. wax — to grow
  19. fork — in a road
  20. hide — animal skin
  21. spring — of water
  22. kick — in football
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. cold — the Cold War

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