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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Where did you ________________ them?
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  19. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. content — happy
  3. tear — to rip
  4. mouse — for a computer
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. net — after costs
  8. arm — a part of something
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. mug — to rob
  11. shower — rain
  12. tear — from crying
  13. net — in sport
  14. net — for catching
  15. tear — from crying
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. mug — a cup
  19. mug — a face
  20. cold — not warm
  21. content — the amount
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. mouse — the animal
  24. cold — an illness

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