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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: spell · squash · scale · clip · cold · rule · last · shower

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. squash — to crush
  3. shower — rain
  4. scale — in music
  5. spell — letters
  6. scale — size or range
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. cold — an illness
  9. last — final
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. rule — government
  12. clip — for paper
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. cold — not warm
  15. last — finally
  16. spell — a short time
  17. rule — a law
  18. spell — magic
  19. clip — to cut
  20. squash — the sport
  21. scale — for weighing
  22. clip — a video
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. last — to go on

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