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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 need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  12. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cold — an illness
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. bass — the fish
  6. shower — rain
  7. rest — what's left
  8. fork — in a road
  9. content — the amount
  10. wound — an injury
  11. rest — a break
  12. bass — low music
  13. wound — an injury
  14. rest — what's left
  15. content — happy
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. content — videos and posts
  19. drill — a practice
  20. drill — army training
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. cold — not warm
  24. shower — to wash

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