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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. wave — a sudden rise
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. spring — a coil
  5. wave — with your hand
  6. wound — an injury
  7. spring — the season
  8. wound — an injury
  9. capital — money
  10. net — for catching
  11. net — in sport
  12. capital — a big letter
  13. chip — for betting
  14. shower — rain
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. hand — in cards
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. capital — a city
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. hand — help
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. chip — to eat
  23. spring — of water
  24. net — after costs

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