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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: shower · tear · wake · wind · bat · staff

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. staff — employees
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. staff — a stick
  5. staff — employees
  6. wake — before a funeral
  7. shower — to wash
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. wind — moving air
  10. tear — from crying
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. wake — a trail
  14. tear — to rip
  15. wind — to turn a key
  16. tear — from crying
  17. shower — rain
  18. bat — the animal

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