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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 120 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. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. fall — to drop
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. stem — to come from
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. bass — the fish
  9. wake — a trail
  10. cold — an illness
  11. shower — rain
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. fall — to drop
  15. fall — the season
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. dip — to sink
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. cold — not warm
  20. kid — to tease
  21. bass — low music
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. dip — to dunk
  24. kid — child

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