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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. spring — a coil
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. tear — from crying
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. shower — to wash
  8. snap — to click
  9. shower — rain
  10. cold — an illness
  11. spring — the season
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. stick — to attach or keep to
  14. rush — hurry
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. tear — to rip
  18. prune — to trim
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. prune — to trim
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. spring — of water
  24. cold — not warm

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