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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. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The light ________________ burned out.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. tear — from crying
  3. file — a document
  4. file — a tool
  5. tear — from crying
  6. spell — letters
  7. shower — to wash
  8. bulb — for light
  9. bear — the animal
  10. bear — to put up with
  11. spell — a short time
  12. bulb — of a plant
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. spell — magic
  15. tear — to rip
  16. bound — obliged
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — an illness
  19. shower — rain
  20. bound — tied together
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. bulb — for light
  23. bound — certain
  24. file — a line of people

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