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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  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. shower — rain
  2. spring — a coil
  3. mine — for digging
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. tube — in a tire
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. track — a path
  9. track — a song
  10. tube — a container
  11. lash — an eyelash
  12. spring — of water
  13. lash — a whip stroke
  14. tube — the underground
  15. spring — the season
  16. content — happy
  17. track — to keep track
  18. content — the amount
  19. shower — to wash
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. date — the fruit
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. date — on the calendar
  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