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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: cell · shower · capital · file · wound · arm · straw · fall

  1. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. capital — money
  2. file — a line of people
  3. file — a tool
  4. wound — an injury
  5. cell — in biology
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. wound — an injury
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. shower — to wash
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. cell — a phone
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. fall — to drop
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. capital — a city
  18. file — a document
  19. fall — to drop
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. shower — rain
  23. fall — the season
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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