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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: field · cold · ball · shower · dip · land · fan · hide

  1. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  3. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The King held a masked ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. ball — a round shape
  3. fan — to cool the air
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. land — ground
  7. field — farmland
  8. dip — to sink
  9. shower — rain
  10. ball — a great time
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. land — to come down
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. shower — to wash
  15. ball — a dance
  16. land — a country
  17. dip — to dunk
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. field — for sport
  20. cold — not warm
  21. field — a subject
  22. cold — an illness
  23. dip — a sauce
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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