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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 124 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: cap · row · leaves · ball · mine · tear · spell · shower

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  15. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  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. row — a quarrel
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. tear — from crying
  5. row — a line
  6. spell — magic
  7. tear — from crying
  8. spell — letters
  9. row — to paddle
  10. tear — to rip
  11. ball — a round shape
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. shower — to wash
  14. ball — a great time
  15. leaves — to go away
  16. ball — a dance
  17. spell — a short time
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. cap — a lid
  20. cap — a hat
  21. cap — of ice
  22. mine — for digging
  23. mine — belonging to me
  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