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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 116 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 sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. land — to come down
  3. snap — to snap out of it
  4. tear — to rip
  5. shower — rain
  6. lean — to rest against
  7. wind — moving air
  8. shower — to wash
  9. spring — of water
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. land — a country
  13. tear — from crying
  14. spring — the season
  15. tear — from crying
  16. lean — thin
  17. land — ground
  18. wind — moving air
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. spring — a coil
  21. content — happy
  22. snap — to click
  23. lean — to bend
  24. content — the amount

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