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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. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  11. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. file — a document
  3. file — a tool
  4. bat — the animal
  5. mine — for digging
  6. staff — employees
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. shower — to wash
  9. cold — an illness
  10. staff — a stick
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. file — a line of people
  14. staff — employees
  15. fan — to cool the air
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. swing — in golf
  18. swing — to play on
  19. cold — not warm
  20. swing — music
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. shower — rain
  24. mine — belonging to me

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