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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. I'll be taking the ________________.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. tube — a container
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. shower — to wash
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. spring — the season
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — an illness
  11. fall — to drop
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. spring — of water
  14. wound — an injury
  15. rock — a stone
  16. wound — an injury
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. fall — to drop
  19. tube — the underground
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. rock — music
  22. spring — a coil
  23. cold — not warm
  24. fall — the season

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