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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've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. David sat on the ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. The tickets are free of ________________.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. bat — the animal
  3. shower — to wash
  4. shower — rain
  5. tear — from crying
  6. spell — magic
  7. charge — in control
  8. content — the amount
  9. tear — to rip
  10. content — happy
  11. swing — in golf
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. row — to paddle
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. swing — to play on
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. charge — electricity
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. spell — letters
  21. charge — a price
  22. row — a line
  23. tear — from crying
  24. swing — music

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