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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 116 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 · land · file · clip · spell · chair · bank · pit

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  22. When are we going to ________________?
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  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. land — ground
  2. pit — a hole
  3. file — a line of people
  4. pit — a fruit stone
  5. shower — rain
  6. pit — in a race
  7. clip — a video
  8. clip — to cut
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. file — a document
  11. spell — magic
  12. clip — for paper
  13. spell — letters
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. land — a country
  16. bank — for money
  17. bank — for money
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. file — a tool
  20. spell — a short time
  21. bank — of a river
  22. land — to come down
  23. chair — a leader
  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