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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. bore — to drill
  3. file — a tool
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. squash — to crush
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. fall — the season
  8. bore — to tire
  9. fall — to drop
  10. capital — money
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. file — a line of people
  13. shower — rain
  14. file — a document
  15. mine — for digging
  16. march — the month
  17. march — music
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. squash — the sport
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. capital — a city
  22. fall — to drop
  23. bore — gave birth
  24. march — the month

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