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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. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  13. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  18. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. ground — the earth
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. field — a subject
  8. cue — a hint
  9. cold — not warm
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. ground — crushed
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. cue — for pool
  14. cold — an illness
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. shower — to wash
  17. cue — a signal
  18. lash — an eyelash
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. bark — to shout
  22. field — farmland
  23. ground — a position
  24. field — for sport

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