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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: rash · court · file · shower · last · wound · tear · board

  1. Don't do anything ________________.
  2. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  3. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  4. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — hasty
  2. board — a flat piece
  3. rash — on the skin
  4. last — final
  5. file — a tool
  6. shower — to wash
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. board — to get on
  9. wound — an injury
  10. rash — a series
  11. board — a committee
  12. tear — from crying
  13. last — finally
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. court — of law
  16. wound — an injury
  17. shower — rain
  18. last — to go on
  19. file — a line of people
  20. court — for sport
  21. tear — from crying
  22. file — a document
  23. tear — to rip
  24. court — of a king

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