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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: pitcher · cap · rule · cell · file · kid · sharp · shower

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  10. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. cap — a lid
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. kid — child
  6. file — a line of people
  7. cell — in biology
  8. sharp — clever
  9. rule — a law
  10. rule — government
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. sharp — with an edge
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. shower — rain
  15. cap — of ice
  16. kid — to tease
  17. file — a tool
  18. cell — a phone
  19. cap — a hat
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. file — a document
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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