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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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Word bank
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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: field · row · shower · tear · rule · bark

  1. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — to paddle
  2. tear — from crying
  3. rule — a law
  4. tear — to rip
  5. tear — from crying
  6. field — for sport
  7. field — farmland
  8. row — a line
  9. field — a subject
  10. bark — to shout
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. rule — government
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. shower — to wash
  17. bark — of a tree
  18. shower — rain

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