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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. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. rest — what's left
  3. rash — a series
  4. spring — the season
  5. spring — a coil
  6. cold — not warm
  7. rash — hasty
  8. shower — to wash
  9. fall — the season
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. bark — to shout
  13. rest — a break
  14. fall — to drop
  15. cap — a hat
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. fall — to drop
  18. cap — of ice
  19. spring — of water
  20. cold — an illness
  21. rest — what's left
  22. shower — rain
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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