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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 120 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. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. I can't ________________ this cold.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  24. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. net — in sport
  3. kid — child
  4. shower — to wash
  5. shower — rain
  6. land — to come down
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. file — a tool
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. land — ground
  13. dip — to dunk
  14. net — for catching
  15. net — after costs
  16. land — a country
  17. kid — to tease
  18. stand — to bear
  19. file — a document
  20. rush — hurry
  21. stand — on your feet
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. file — a line of people
  24. dip — to sink

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