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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. current — electric
  3. spell — letters
  4. shower — rain
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. march — the month
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. mine — for digging
  9. tear — from crying
  10. spell — a short time
  11. cell — in biology
  12. march — the month
  13. cell — a phone
  14. tear — to rip
  15. march — music
  16. current — of water
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. root — of a word
  19. root — of a plant
  20. spell — magic
  21. root — the cause
  22. current — happening now
  23. shower — to wash
  24. cell — in a prison

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