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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: content · bowl · temple · firm · tear · field · shower · row

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  14. When was this ________________ built?
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  20. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. tear — to rip
  3. bowl — a dish
  4. field — farmland
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. shower — to wash
  7. firm — a company
  8. content — the amount
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. field — a subject
  12. field — for sport
  13. temple — a place of worship
  14. temple — a place of worship
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — from crying
  17. row — a line
  18. shower — rain
  19. bowl — a football final
  20. firm — steady
  21. row — to paddle
  22. firm — decided
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. temple — side of the head

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