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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. I can't ________________ this cold.
  22. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. stand — for spectators
  5. shower — rain
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. cold — not warm
  9. track — a path
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. sharp — clever
  12. track — a song
  13. stand — on your feet
  14. shower — to wash
  15. rash — hasty
  16. track — to keep track
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. tube — the underground
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. stand — to bear
  22. tube — a container
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. rash — a series

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