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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. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. charge — a price
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. cold — not warm
  5. rash — hasty
  6. wind — moving air
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. charge — electricity
  12. rash — a series
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. charge — in control
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. cold — an illness
  17. shower — rain
  18. dip — to sink
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. fork — in a road
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. wind — moving air
  24. pitcher — a jug

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