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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. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  9. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  10. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. ground — crushed
  3. wake — before a funeral
  4. shower — to wash
  5. branch — a division
  6. tear — to rip
  7. tear — from crying
  8. scale — size or range
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. wake — a trail
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. ground — the earth
  16. ground — a position
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. tear — from crying
  21. scale — in music
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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