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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. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  2. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  7. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  8. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. Did you ________________ the meat?
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — in cards
  2. season — in sport
  3. shower — to wash
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. perch — the fish
  6. perch — for a bird
  7. band — a rubber band
  8. drill — army training
  9. content — happy
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. drill — a practice
  12. tear — from crying
  13. shower — rain
  14. drill — the tool
  15. band — a ring
  16. hand — help
  17. season — to add flavour
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. content — the amount
  21. season — of the year
  22. band — a music group
  23. tear — to rip
  24. tear — from crying

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