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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: bear · spell · lean · shower · toast · capital · row · saw

  1. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. How do you ________________ your surname?
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — to bend
  2. saw — the tool
  3. shower — to wash
  4. lean — to rest against
  5. spell — magic
  6. saw — the tool
  7. toast — the most admired
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. toast — bread
  10. spell — a short time
  11. toast — a drink to someone
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. bear — the animal
  15. bear — the animal
  16. capital — a city
  17. spell — letters
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. lean — thin
  21. shower — rain
  22. row — a line
  23. capital — money
  24. row — to paddle

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