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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. rest — what's left
  4. root — of a word
  5. scale — for weighing
  6. clip — for paper
  7. cell — a phone
  8. mate — a partner
  9. rest — a break
  10. root — the cause
  11. file — a document
  12. scale — size or range
  13. file — a tool
  14. mate — to breed
  15. cell — in biology
  16. mate — a friend
  17. shower — rain
  18. root — of a plant
  19. file — a line of people
  20. rest — what's left
  21. clip — to cut
  22. scale — in music
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. clip — a video

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