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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. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. last — final
  3. shower — rain
  4. last — to go on
  5. tear — from crying
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. tear — to rip
  11. wax — for sculpting
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. club — for dancing
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. wound — an injury
  16. wax — to grow
  17. wound — an injury
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. last — finally
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. tear — from crying
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. club — a group
  24. shower — to wash

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