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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  10. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. last — finally
  3. patient — calm and waiting
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. wake — a trail
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. lie — to recline
  10. wake — to stop sleeping
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. wound — an injury
  14. shower — rain
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. bat — the animal
  17. last — to go on
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. wound — an injury
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. last — final
  24. patient — a sick person

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