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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: hand · shower · tear · current · mine · lean · can · date

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. Have you settled on a ________________?
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  10. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  22. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. shower — to wash
  3. current — happening now
  4. can — a tin
  5. lean — thin
  6. date — on the calendar
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. can — to be able to
  10. current — electric
  11. tear — from crying
  12. tear — to rip
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. hand — part of the body
  16. tear — from crying
  17. hand — in cards
  18. mine — for digging
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. hand — help
  21. can — a tin
  22. current — of water
  23. date — the fruit
  24. 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