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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. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  3. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  21. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. Should I buy a wireless ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. mouse — the animal
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. current — happening now
  5. branch — of a bank
  6. cold — not warm
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. shower — rain
  12. wake — a trail
  13. branch — of a tree
  14. cold — an illness
  15. mine — for digging
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. current — of water
  20. patient — calm and waiting
  21. current — electric
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. branch — a division
  24. mouse — for a computer

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