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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: land · rest · shower · tear · season · sharp · content · hand

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. It's one o'clock ________________.
  15. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. When are we going to ________________?
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. content — the amount
  3. tear — to rip
  4. tear — from crying
  5. season — of the year
  6. land — ground
  7. rest — what's left
  8. content — happy
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. sharp — clever
  11. shower — rain
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. sharp — exactly
  15. season — in sport
  16. rest — what's left
  17. hand — in cards
  18. hand — help
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. land — to come down
  21. land — a country
  22. rest — a break
  23. shower — to wash
  24. sharp — with an edge

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