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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 120 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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The ________________ took off on time.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. ground — crushed
  3. mine — for digging
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. dip — a sauce
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. game — wild animals
  8. plane — an aircraft
  9. ground — a position
  10. ground — the earth
  11. game — a match
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. board — a flat piece
  14. file — a tool
  15. board — to get on
  16. shower — to wash
  17. dip — to sink
  18. plane — a tool
  19. file — a document
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. board — a committee
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. game — a kind of play
  24. file — a line of people

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