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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 116 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: ground · shower · wind · tear · leaves · saw · perch · season

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. perch — the fish
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. ground — a position
  5. ground — crushed
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. ground — the earth
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. tear — to rip
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. wind — moving air
  13. saw — the tool
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. tear — from crying
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. tear — from crying
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. shower — rain
  20. season — in sport
  21. wind — moving air
  22. season — of the year
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. saw — the tool

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