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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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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: shower · perch · charge · wind · cold · leaves · row · rule

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The tickets are free of ________________.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. rule — a law
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. shower — to wash
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. perch — the fish
  9. charge — electricity
  10. wind — moving air
  11. cold — not warm
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. row — to paddle
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. shower — rain
  16. charge — a price
  17. row — a line
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. rule — government
  21. rule — to rule out
  22. wind — moving air
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. charge — in control

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