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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: bore · spring · cold · hide · bay · tear · shower · file

  1. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. My mare is ________________ in color.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. tear — from crying
  3. shower — to wash
  4. tear — to rip
  5. shower — rain
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. bore — to drill
  9. bore — to tire
  10. spring — of water
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. tear — from crying
  14. cold — not warm
  15. bay — a part of the sea
  16. spring — the season
  17. file — a document
  18. bay — a horse colour
  19. file — a line of people
  20. file — a tool
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. cold — an illness
  23. bay — to keep at bay
  24. spring — a coil

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