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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 · cold · mark · wind · cell · pass · wound

  1. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  4. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  17. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  20. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. cold — an illness
  3. pass — to succeed
  4. dip — to sink
  5. cold — not warm
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wind — moving air
  10. mark — a trace
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. wind — moving air
  13. pass — to spend time
  14. wound — an injury
  15. cell — a phone
  16. dip — a sauce
  17. wind — to turn a key
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. pass — a permit
  20. mark — to pay attention
  21. shower — rain
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. mark — a grade
  24. shower — to wash

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