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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. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. drill — the tool
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — an illness
  4. shower — rain
  5. spring — the season
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. drill — army training
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. plane — a tool
  11. drill — a practice
  12. prune — to trim
  13. spring — a coil
  14. spring — of water
  15. prune — to trim
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. shower — to wash
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. rush — hurry
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. hide — to keep secret
  24. prune — the fruit

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