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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 120 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: rest · shower · cap · wind · key · drill · file · rule

  1. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  18. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — a break
  2. cap — a hat
  3. cap — of ice
  4. drill — army training
  5. shower — rain
  6. rule — a law
  7. drill — the tool
  8. cap — a lid
  9. drill — a practice
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. file — a tool
  12. wind — moving air
  13. key — for a lock
  14. key — the most important part
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. rest — what's left
  18. rule — government
  19. shower — to wash
  20. file — a document
  21. key — in music
  22. rest — what's left
  23. wind — moving air
  24. file — a line of people

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