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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  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. cold — an illness
  2. foot — a measure
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. swing — music
  5. file — a tool
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. season — of the year
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. swing — to play on
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. shower — to wash
  14. file — a line of people
  15. shower — rain
  16. swing — in golf
  17. file — a document
  18. cold — not warm
  19. bark — to shout
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. season — in sport
  23. foot — part of the body
  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