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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 120 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: shower · sharp · bass · mate · tear · bowl · chest · content

  1. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  2. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  7. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  13. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  14. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  15. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. Have you found your soul ________________?
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  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. chest — of your body
  2. content — happy
  3. content — the amount
  4. bass — the instrument
  5. bass — low music
  6. mate — to breed
  7. sharp — with an edge
  8. chest — of your body
  9. shower — rain
  10. sharp — clever
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. bass — the fish
  13. bowl — a dish
  14. bowl — a football final
  15. bowl — to roll
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. chest — a box
  18. tear — to rip
  19. mate — a partner
  20. tear — from crying
  21. shower — to wash
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. mate — a friend
  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