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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's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  23. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. spring — a coil
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. clip — for paper
  5. fall — to drop
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. shower — rain
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. spring — the season
  10. drill — the tool
  11. fall — to drop
  12. pitch — completely
  13. plane — a tool
  14. clip — to cut
  15. drill — army training
  16. plane — in geometry
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. spring — of water
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. wave — with your hand
  21. fall — the season
  22. pitch — a sports field
  23. drill — a practice
  24. clip — a video

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