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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: clip · lean · present · cold · band · shower · tear · wake

  1. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  2. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a music group
  2. wake — before a funeral
  3. cold — an illness
  4. wake — a trail
  5. shower — rain
  6. tear — to rip
  7. tear — from crying
  8. present — a gift
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. shower — to wash
  11. clip — to cut
  12. lean — thin
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. clip — a video
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. band — a rubber band
  17. clip — for paper
  18. lean — to rest against
  19. present — the time now
  20. band — a ring
  21. lean — to bend
  22. tear — from crying
  23. cold — not warm
  24. present — there

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