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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. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. wound — an injury
  3. land — to come down
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. mine — for digging
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. cold — an illness
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. shower — to wash
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. land — ground
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. shower — rain
  20. cold — not warm
  21. perch — the fish
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. stick — to attach or keep to
  24. land — a country

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