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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: cold · stock · fan · tear · rule · stick · face · shower

  1. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  7. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  8. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  9. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  10. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  11. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  12. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The ________________ market has crashed.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — to cool the air
  2. tear — from crying
  3. face — to confront
  4. rule — government
  5. tear — from crying
  6. fan — a supporter
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. face — part of the head
  9. stick — to attach or keep to
  10. face — to point toward
  11. stick — a piece of wood
  12. rule — to rule out
  13. shower — rain
  14. tear — to rip
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. rule — a law
  17. stock — goods
  18. shower — to wash
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. cold — an illness
  22. stock — shares
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — the Cold War

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