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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: nail · toast · shower · tube · tear · roll · bat · clip

  1. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  2. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. The ________________ went through the wall.
  11. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  15. I'll be taking the ________________.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a list
  2. toast — a drink to someone
  3. shower — rain
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. clip — to cut
  6. shower — to wash
  7. tear — from crying
  8. clip — a video
  9. tear — to rip
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. tube — a container
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. roll — a cake
  14. nail — on a finger
  15. tube — the underground
  16. bat — the animal
  17. toast — the most admired
  18. tear — from crying
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. toast — bread
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. nail — for a hammer
  24. clip — for paper

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