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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. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. patient — a sick person
  3. spell — letters
  4. mate — to breed
  5. wind — moving air
  6. march — the month
  7. bat — the animal
  8. shower — rain
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. mate — a friend
  11. rock — to move gently
  12. march — the month
  13. spell — a short time
  14. patient — calm and waiting
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. rock — music
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. wind — moving air
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. march — music
  21. mate — a partner
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. rock — a stone
  24. spell — magic

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