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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. shower — rain
  3. lean — thin
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. cold — not warm
  7. capital — a city
  8. lean — to bend
  9. face — to point toward
  10. cold — an illness
  11. capital — money
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. face — part of the head
  14. saw — past of 'see'
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. face — to confront
  17. saw — the tool
  18. shower — to wash
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. game — wild animals
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. stem — to come from
  24. game — a match

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