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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. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  7. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. present — there
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. dip — to sink
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. dip — to dunk
  7. roll — a cake
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. file — a line of people
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. wake — a trail
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. leaves — to go away
  15. shower — rain
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — an illness
  18. present — a gift
  19. present — the time now
  20. file — a tool
  21. shower — to wash
  22. wake — before a funeral
  23. file — a document
  24. roll — a list

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