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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  8. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  15. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. snap — to click
  3. shower — to wash
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. spell — letters
  6. tear — from crying
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. nail — on a finger
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. spell — magic
  12. tear — from crying
  13. march — the month
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. ruler — a monarch
  16. spell — a short time
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. march — the month
  19. bowl — a football final
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. march — music
  23. shower — rain
  24. tear — to rip

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