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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. My father caught me by the ________________.
  14. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. pound — a weight
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. shower — rain
  6. capital — a city
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. snap — to click
  9. tear — to rip
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. pop — music
  13. arm — part of the body
  14. capital — money
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. tear — from crying
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. chair — a leader
  19. tear — from crying
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. pop — to visit
  24. pop — soda

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