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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: wound · object · cold · rush · last · cap · shower · present

  1. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. present — the time now
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. object — to protest
  4. cap — of ice
  5. cap — a lid
  6. rush — hurry
  7. object — an aim
  8. present — a gift
  9. last — finally
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. last — to go on
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. wound — an injury
  14. present — there
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. rush — to hurry
  17. object — a thing
  18. shower — rain
  19. last — final
  20. shower — to wash
  21. cap — a hat
  22. wound — an injury
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — an illness

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