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

Word bank: shower · dip · board · snap · wound · cold · ball · fall

  1. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. The King held a masked ________________.
  6. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — the season
  2. wound — an injury
  3. shower — to wash
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. ball — a dance
  6. ball — a great time
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. fall — to drop
  9. cold — not warm
  10. board — to get on
  11. snap — to click
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. dip — to sink
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. board — a committee
  18. cold — an illness
  19. shower — rain
  20. wound — an injury
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. fall — to drop
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. cold — the Cold War

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