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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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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: cap · last · bark · snap · bat · tear · shower · calf

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  17. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  22. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. bat — in an idiom
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. bark — of a tree
  6. tear — to rip
  7. last — to go on
  8. last — finally
  9. bat — the animal
  10. cap — of ice
  11. shower — rain
  12. cap — a hat
  13. last — final
  14. tear — from crying
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. calf — a young animal
  17. calf — of the leg
  18. snap — to click
  19. cap — a lid
  20. bark — to shout
  21. calf — a young animal
  22. bark — a dog's sound
  23. shower — to wash
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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