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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. I play ________________ in a jazz band.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. wind — moving air
  3. spell — magic
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. bear — the animal
  6. shower — to wash
  7. bass — the fish
  8. wind — moving air
  9. capital — a city
  10. bass — low music
  11. band — a music group
  12. capital — money
  13. spell — letters
  14. bear — the animal
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. spell — a short time
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. band — a rubber band
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. straw — to clutch at straws
  22. band — a ring
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. bass — the instrument

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