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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. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Take your time. There's no ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. march — music
  5. shower — to wash
  6. lean — thin
  7. shower — rain
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. lean — to rest against
  11. spring — the season
  12. row — a line
  13. scale — in music
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. march — the month
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. lean — to bend
  19. march — the month
  20. scale — size or range
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. row — to paddle
  23. spring — of water
  24. rush — hurry

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