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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: shower · can · root · rush · file · arm · drill · cold

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  6. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  10. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. arm — a part of something
  3. root — of a word
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. can — a tin
  6. can — to be able to
  7. file — a line of people
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. arm — part of the body
  10. drill — army training
  11. shower — rain
  12. file — a document
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. drill — the tool
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — not warm
  18. drill — a practice
  19. root — the cause
  20. file — a tool
  21. can — a tin
  22. shower — to wash
  23. cold — an illness
  24. root — of a plant

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