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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.

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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: march · file · dip · cold · wave · stick · shower · hide

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  14. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  23. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  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. cold — not warm
  2. dip — a sauce
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. march — the month
  6. dip — to sink
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. shower — rain
  9. cold — an illness
  10. march — music
  11. file — a tool
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. wave — with your hand
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. file — a document
  17. wave — a sudden rise
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. march — the month
  21. shower — to wash
  22. wave — of the sea
  23. stick — a piece of wood
  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