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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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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: file · fork · capital · safe · tear · shower · swing · chest

  1. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  20. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. He has no idea where the ________________ is.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — out of danger
  2. tear — from crying
  3. file — a tool
  4. chest — of your body
  5. swing — in golf
  6. chest — a box
  7. shower — to wash
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. swing — music
  10. file — a line of people
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. capital — a city
  13. tear — to rip
  14. swing — to play on
  15. capital — a big letter
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. capital — money
  18. chest — of your body
  19. safe — out of danger
  20. fork — in a road
  21. tear — from crying
  22. file — a document
  23. shower — rain
  24. safe — a strongbox

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