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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: shower · hide · chair · capital · mark · rush · cold · tear

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. capital — money
  4. capital — a city
  5. tear — to rip
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. cold — not warm
  10. shower — to wash
  11. tear — from crying
  12. mark — a trace
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. shower — rain
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. hide — to keep secret
  18. rush — hurry
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. tear — from crying
  21. chair — a leader
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. cold — an illness
  24. mark — a grade

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