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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: racket · land · wound · tear · cell · straw · shower · stick

  1. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  2. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  4. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  7. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — rain
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. straw — dry grass
  4. racket — a loud noise
  5. cell — in biology
  6. stick — to attach or keep to
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. land — a country
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. wound — an injury
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. shower — to wash
  13. land — to come down
  14. cell — a phone
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. land — ground
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. tear — from crying
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. tear — to rip
  22. wound — an injury
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. tear — from crying

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