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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 116 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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. She's very handy with a ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  22. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. cold — not warm
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. cap — a lid
  6. mine — for digging
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. file — a line of people
  10. wave — a sudden rise
  11. shower — rain
  12. saw — the tool
  13. file — a document
  14. cap — a hat
  15. shower — to wash
  16. file — a tool
  17. saw — past of 'see'
  18. wind — moving air
  19. cold — an illness
  20. wind — moving air
  21. wave — with your hand
  22. wave — of the sea
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. saw — the tool

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