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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
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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: spring · wax · shower · file · rock · mine · cell · fan

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. shower — to wash
  3. cell — a phone
  4. rock — a stone
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. file — a line of people
  9. file — a tool
  10. wax — to grow
  11. spring — of water
  12. mine — for digging
  13. wax — for sculpting
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. spring — a coil
  16. file — a document
  17. shower — rain
  18. cell — in biology
  19. wax — in the ear
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. spring — the season
  24. mine — an explosive

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