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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 120 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: plane · pit · fall · shower · cold · file · rash · saw

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. Boris sat near the fire ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cold — not warm
  3. saw — past of 'see'
  4. file — a tool
  5. plane — a tool
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. saw — the tool
  8. fall — the season
  9. rash — a series
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. rash — on the skin
  14. saw — the tool
  15. file — a document
  16. shower — to wash
  17. fall — to drop
  18. rash — hasty
  19. shower — rain
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. file — a line of people
  22. pit — in a race
  23. fall — to drop
  24. pit — a hole

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