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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: shower · mouse · cell · season · tear · cap · lie · stand

  1. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  9. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  10. I can't ________________ this cold.
  11. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  12. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  16. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  22. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — a lid
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. tear — to rip
  4. season — of the year
  5. shower — to wash
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. cap — of ice
  9. stand — for spectators
  10. stand — to bear
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. stand — on your feet
  13. tear — from crying
  14. cell — a phone
  15. lie — to recline
  16. mouse — the animal
  17. cell — in biology
  18. shower — rain
  19. mouse — for a computer
  20. season — in sport
  21. lie — an untruth
  22. lie — an untruth
  23. cap — a hat
  24. tear — from crying

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