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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. Did you ________________ the meat?
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  13. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. capital — a city
  3. craft — boats
  4. bowl — a football final
  5. shower — to wash
  6. season — to add flavour
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. bowl — a dish
  9. tear — to rip
  10. shower — rain
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. bowl — to roll
  13. season — of the year
  14. file — a line of people
  15. season — in sport
  16. craft — a skill
  17. tear — from crying
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. tear — from crying
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. file — a document
  22. capital — money
  23. file — a tool
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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