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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. wind — moving air
  3. tear — from crying
  4. present — the time now
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. kick — in football
  7. kick — with a leg
  8. content — happy
  9. spring — of water
  10. content — the amount
  11. spring — the season
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. coach — pulled by horses
  15. shower — to wash
  16. wind — moving air
  17. shower — rain
  18. tear — from crying
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. coach — a trainer
  21. spring — a coil
  22. tear — to rip
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. present — there

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