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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: wave · kid · shower · rock · snap · wound · mine · row

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. row — a line
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. wave — with your hand
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. mine — for digging
  10. rock — a stone
  11. kid — child
  12. snap — to click
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. row — to paddle
  16. shower — rain
  17. kid — to tease
  18. wave — a sudden rise
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. shower — to wash
  23. wound — an injury
  24. wound — an injury

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