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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. When was this ________________ built?
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. How do you ________________ your surname?
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. shower — rain
  3. spell — magic
  4. content — happy
  5. current — electric
  6. spring — of water
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. clip — a video
  10. current — happening now
  11. content — the amount
  12. spell — a short time
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. current — of water
  16. spring — the season
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — to cut
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. spring — a coil
  22. spell — letters
  23. shower — to wash
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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