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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. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Have you met the new head ________________?
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  16. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. tear — from crying
  3. wave — with your hand
  4. fall — to drop
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. tear — from crying
  7. content — happy
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. chest — a box
  10. fall — to drop
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. chest — of your body
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. shower — rain
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. wave — a sudden rise
  17. tear — to rip
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. shower — to wash
  21. fall — the season
  22. bat — the animal
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. chest — of your body

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