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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  3. We're on a ________________ here.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. chest — of your body
  3. roll — on a roll
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. race — humankind
  6. cell — a phone
  7. roll — a list
  8. race — the arms race
  9. roll — a cake
  10. shower — to wash
  11. chest — of your body
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. pass — a permit
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. pass — to succeed
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. clip — a video
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — to cut
  20. cell — in biology
  21. chest — a box
  22. race — a contest
  23. branch — a division
  24. pass — to spend time

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