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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. last — final
  3. fine — a penalty
  4. file — a line of people
  5. file — a document
  6. staff — employees
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. last — finally
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. fine — high quality
  12. shower — to wash
  13. fine — all right
  14. file — a tool
  15. rash — hasty
  16. root — of a word
  17. shower — rain
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. staff — a stick
  21. rash — a series
  22. root — of a plant
  23. staff — employees
  24. root — the cause

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