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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: clip · shower · tear · track · cap · bound · jam · spell

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  21. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. tear — from crying
  3. shower — rain
  4. spell — magic
  5. tear — from crying
  6. tear — to rip
  7. shower — to wash
  8. jam — a tight spot
  9. track — a path
  10. jam — in traffic
  11. cap — a lid
  12. spell — a short time
  13. clip — a video
  14. spell — letters
  15. cap — of ice
  16. track — to keep track
  17. track — a song
  18. bound — obliged
  19. bound — certain
  20. jam — to spread on bread
  21. cap — a hat
  22. clip — to cut
  23. bound — tied together
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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