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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 124 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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  10. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. fine — all right
  3. file — a tool
  4. rest — what's left
  5. present — a gift
  6. rest — a break
  7. game — a match
  8. shower — rain
  9. fine — high quality
  10. pit — a hole
  11. cold — not warm
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. cold — an illness
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. game — wild animals
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. rest — what's left
  18. file — a line of people
  19. pit — in a race
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. present — the time now
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. shower — to wash
  24. file — a document

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