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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: tear · shower · suit · scale · content · fan · kid · wind

  1. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  2. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  10. When will it ________________ you to start?
  11. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. content — the amount
  2. suit — in cards
  3. content — happy
  4. wind — moving air
  5. tear — from crying
  6. scale — in music
  7. kid — to tease
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. suit — clothes
  10. suit — to fit
  11. scale — size or range
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. shower — to wash
  18. tear — to rip
  19. wind — moving air
  20. kid — child
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. tear — from crying
  24. shower — rain

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