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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. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. rest — a break
  3. shower — rain
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. rest — what's left
  6. spring — of water
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. court — for sport
  9. wind — moving air
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. stick — a piece of wood
  13. spring — the season
  14. spring — a coil
  15. rest — what's left
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. court — of law
  18. dip — to sink
  19. stick — to attach or keep to
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. wind — moving air
  22. dip — a sauce
  23. court — of a king
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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