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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The ball is in your ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. shower — to wash
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. court — of law
  5. object — an aim
  6. cold — not warm
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. court — of a king
  9. tear — from crying
  10. tear — from crying
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. court — for sport
  16. cold — an illness
  17. object — a thing
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. wind — moving air
  20. wind — moving air
  21. object — to protest
  22. tear — to rip
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. branch — a division

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