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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  23. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. shower — rain
  3. snap — to click
  4. net — for catching
  5. spring — of water
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. cue — a hint
  8. wound — an injury
  9. spring — a coil
  10. cue — for pool
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. net — in sport
  13. spring — the season
  14. net — after costs
  15. club — for dancing
  16. cold — an illness
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. club — for golf
  20. cold — not warm
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. club — a group
  23. cue — a signal
  24. wound — an injury

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