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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 dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. The King held a masked ________________.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  22. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. cue — a signal
  3. ground — crushed
  4. ball — a dance
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. ground — a position
  7. cold — an illness
  8. clip — a video
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. shower — to wash
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. cold — not warm
  13. clip — for paper
  14. ball — a great time
  15. cue — for pool
  16. shower — rain
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. racket — for tennis
  19. branch — a division
  20. clip — to cut
  21. branch — of a tree
  22. cue — a hint
  23. ground — the earth
  24. racket — for tennis

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