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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: bat · saw · spring · stem · kid · tear · shower · leaves

  1. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. He's taking a ________________ right now.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. leaves — of a tree
  3. kid — child
  4. bat — the animal
  5. saw — the tool
  6. spring — the season
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. spring — of water
  9. shower — rain
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. tear — from crying
  13. stem — to come from
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. kid — to tease
  16. spring — a coil
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. tear — to rip
  20. tear — from crying
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. shower — to wash

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