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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 120 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 ________________ change colour in autumn.
  2. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  5. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  6. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  7. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  8. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — of a tree
  2. shower — rain
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. fork — in a road
  5. leaves — to go away
  6. band — a music group
  7. fork — a garden tool
  8. band — a rubber band
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. spring — the season
  11. content — the amount
  12. spring — of water
  13. tear — to rip
  14. shower — to wash
  15. tear — from crying
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. band — a ring
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. spring — a coil
  20. mine — for digging
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. content — happy
  24. tear — from crying

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