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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. shower — rain
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. content — the amount
  5. wake — to stop sleeping
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. file — a line of people
  8. snap — to click
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. content — happy
  11. staff — employees
  12. bear — the animal
  13. land — to come down
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. land — a country
  16. staff — employees
  17. wake — a trail
  18. bear — the animal
  19. file — a document
  20. file — a tool
  21. staff — a stick
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. land — ground

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