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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 ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. Biology is a ________________ of science.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. tear — from crying
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. tear — to rip
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. tear — from crying
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. shower — to wash
  13. wind — moving air
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. shower — rain
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. wind — moving air
  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