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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. band — a ring
  3. spell — magic
  4. shower — rain
  5. cap — a hat
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. file — a document
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. fan — to cool the air
  12. prune — to trim
  13. spell — a short time
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. prune — to trim
  16. cap — a lid
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. band — a music group
  19. spell — letters
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. file — a line of people
  22. cap — of ice
  23. file — a tool
  24. shower — to wash

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