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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: key · shower · tear · mark · mine · racket · clip · sharp

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  8. This piece is in a major ________________.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  17. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  18. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. clip — for paper
  3. racket — a loud noise
  4. sharp — clever
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. tear — from crying
  7. mark — a grade
  8. key — in music
  9. key — for a lock
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. key — the most important part
  12. shower — rain
  13. shower — to wash
  14. clip — a video
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. mark — a trace
  17. sharp — with an edge
  18. mark — to pay attention
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. tear — from crying
  21. mine — for digging
  22. clip — to cut
  23. mine — belonging to me
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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