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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. stem — to come from
  3. lie — to recline
  4. hand — help
  5. tear — from crying
  6. tear — to rip
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. hand — in cards
  12. tear — from crying
  13. game — wild animals
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. fall — the season
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. lie — an untruth
  18. shower — rain
  19. fall — to drop
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. prune — to trim
  22. game — a match
  23. prune — to trim
  24. fall — to drop

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