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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. tube — a container
  4. land — to come down
  5. tear — from crying
  6. spell — a short time
  7. land — ground
  8. race — humankind
  9. tube — in a tire
  10. spell — letters
  11. shower — rain
  12. tear — to rip
  13. season — in sport
  14. spell — magic
  15. tube — the underground
  16. season — of the year
  17. file — a document
  18. race — the arms race
  19. file — a line of people
  20. land — a country
  21. shower — to wash
  22. file — a tool
  23. tear — from crying
  24. race — a contest

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