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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. file — a tool
  3. tear — to rip
  4. shower — to wash
  5. shower — rain
  6. game — a match
  7. prune — to trim
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. season — in sport
  10. file — a document
  11. season — of the year
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. prune — to trim
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. game — wild animals
  16. file — a line of people
  17. tear — from crying
  18. season — to add flavour

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