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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. That was ________________ to happen.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  20. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. cell — a phone
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. cell — in biology
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. tear — from crying
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. straw — a straw man
  9. shower — rain
  10. fork — in a road
  11. bound — obliged
  12. tear — to rip
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. tear — from crying
  16. bound — certain
  17. root — of a plant
  18. root — of a word
  19. bound — tied together
  20. fork — to eat with
  21. bat — the animal
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. root — the cause
  24. fork — a garden tool

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