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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. shower — to wash
  3. file — a line of people
  4. tear — to rip
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. club — for golf
  7. present — a gift
  8. file — a tool
  9. file — a document
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. mine — for digging
  12. present — the time now
  13. kick — in football
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. present — there
  16. club — for dancing
  17. club — a group
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. tear — from crying
  20. drill — the tool
  21. drill — army training
  22. drill — a practice
  23. shower — rain
  24. mine — belonging to me

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