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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  3. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  4. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  10. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  19. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. spell — a short time
  3. trunk — of a car
  4. trunk — of an elephant
  5. fine — high quality
  6. fine — a penalty
  7. cold — an illness
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. calf — a young animal
  10. calf — of the leg
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. bark — to shout
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. shower — to wash
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. fine — all right
  19. calf — a young animal
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. spell — magic
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. spell — letters

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