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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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. cold — not warm
  5. shower — rain
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. prune — to trim
  10. ground — a position
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. prune — to trim
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. ground — crushed
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. cold — an illness
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. rush — hurry
  20. ground — the earth
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. mouse — for a computer
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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