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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. shower — to wash
  3. cold — not warm
  4. wind — moving air
  5. bank — of a river
  6. wound — an injury
  7. bank — for money
  8. band — a music group
  9. degree — an amount
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. shower — rain
  12. wind — moving air
  13. bank — for money
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. rash — hasty
  16. degree — from a university
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. rash — a series
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. band — a ring
  22. degree — temperature
  23. cold — an illness
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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