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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 124 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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  7. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. That must've been a ________________.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. The ________________ went through the wall.
  18. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  19. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. wind — moving air
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. prune — to trim
  6. face — part of the head
  7. face — to confront
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. wind — moving air
  10. rush — a thrill
  11. face — to point toward
  12. prune — to trim
  13. shower — rain
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. rush — hurry
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. nail — for a hammer
  19. scale — in music
  20. kid — to tease
  21. shower — to wash
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. scale — size or range

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