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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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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. shower — to wash
  3. tear — to rip
  4. drill — a practice
  5. drill — the tool
  6. drill — army training
  7. shower — rain
  8. tear — from crying
  9. degree — temperature
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. tear — from crying
  12. degree — an amount
  13. chip — to eat
  14. face — to point toward
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. face — part of the head
  17. wound — an injury
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. chip — for betting
  21. wound — an injury
  22. face — to confront
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. degree — from a university

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