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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. The tickets are free of ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. tear — from crying
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. spell — magic
  6. kick — in football
  7. charge — in control
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. spell — a short time
  10. charge — electricity
  11. wax — to grow
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. pop — soda
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. pop — to visit
  16. charge — a price
  17. tear — to rip
  18. shower — rain
  19. tear — from crying
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. pop — music
  22. bat — the animal
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. spell — letters

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