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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. content — happy
  3. scale — in music
  4. shower — to wash
  5. wound — an injury
  6. board — to get on
  7. tear — from crying
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. shower — rain
  13. board — a committee
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. tear — from crying
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. content — the amount
  21. board — a flat piece
  22. tear — to rip
  23. kick — in football
  24. scale — size or range

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