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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. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  13. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. fall — to drop
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. swing — to play on
  5. craft — a handicraft
  6. shower — to wash
  7. bound — obliged
  8. court — of a king
  9. swing — music
  10. tear — from crying
  11. tear — to rip
  12. fall — the season
  13. bound — tied together
  14. tear — from crying
  15. cold — an illness
  16. cold — not warm
  17. craft — a skill
  18. fall — to drop
  19. court — for sport
  20. swing — in golf
  21. craft — boats
  22. bound — certain
  23. court — of law
  24. shower — rain

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