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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. band — a ring
  3. wound — an injury
  4. file — a tool
  5. sharp — with an edge
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. shower — to wash
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. band — a music group
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. sharp — clever
  12. file — a document
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. rush — hurry
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. root — of a word
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. file — a line of people
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. shower — rain
  21. root — the cause
  22. root — of a plant
  23. wound — an injury
  24. rash — a series

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