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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The ________________ went through the wall.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. game — wild animals
  3. spring — the season
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. game — a match
  6. nail — on a finger
  7. wind — moving air
  8. kid — to tease
  9. rock — to move gently
  10. rock — a stone
  11. press — to push
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. rock — music
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. spring — of water
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. press — a publisher
  19. kid — child
  20. wind — moving air
  21. press — newspapers
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. shower — rain
  24. spring — a coil

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