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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. The ________________ change colour in autumn.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. capital — money
  4. fall — to drop
  5. shower — rain
  6. tear — to rip
  7. tear — from crying
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. hand — help
  10. capital — a city
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. fall — to drop
  13. shower — to wash
  14. fall — the season
  15. tear — from crying
  16. hand — in cards
  17. pop — soda
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. pop — music
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. plane — a tool
  24. leaves — of a tree

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