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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 116 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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Have you found your soul ________________?
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  9. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  10. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  23. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. shower — rain
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. shower — to wash
  5. file — a tool
  6. mate — a partner
  7. swing — to play on
  8. wake — a trail
  9. mark — a grade
  10. mate — a friend
  11. file — a document
  12. swing — in golf
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. swing — music
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. mate — to breed
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. wake — before a funeral
  20. file — a line of people
  21. bat — the animal
  22. mark — a trace
  23. wake — to stop sleeping
  24. kid — child

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