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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. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. root — of a word
  2. cold — an illness
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. shower — rain
  5. file — a line of people
  6. game — a match
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. file — a tool
  9. file — a document
  10. capital — a city
  11. shower — to wash
  12. cold — not warm
  13. capital — money
  14. root — the cause
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. key — the most important part
  17. track — to keep track
  18. key — in music
  19. track — a song
  20. game — wild animals
  21. key — for a lock
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. track — a path
  24. root — of a plant

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