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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. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  5. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  14. The tickets are free of ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. game — wild animals
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. charge — electricity
  5. wake — before a funeral
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. wake — a trail
  9. band — a ring
  10. cold — an illness
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. cold — not warm
  13. leaves — to go away
  14. charge — a price
  15. shower — rain
  16. wound — an injury
  17. band — a music group
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. game — a kind of play
  20. shower — to wash
  21. wound — an injury
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. charge — in control
  24. game — a match

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