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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  23. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. snap — to click
  4. shower — rain
  5. shower — to wash
  6. spring — a coil
  7. wave — a sudden rise
  8. tear — from crying
  9. tear — to rip
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. spring — of water
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. wave — with your hand
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. wave — of the sea
  18. spring — the season
  19. tear — from crying
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. deal — to handle
  23. deal — an agreement
  24. fork — in a road

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