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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. clip — for paper
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. shower — rain
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. rush — hurry
  9. clip — a video
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. straw — dry grass
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. clip — to cut
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. drill — army training
  18. mine — for digging
  19. shower — to wash
  20. drill — the tool
  21. drill — a practice
  22. roll — a list
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. roll — a cake

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