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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: straw · tear · wound · bowl · shower · wind · branch · patient

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  16. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  17. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. tear — from crying
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. tear — from crying
  7. wind — moving air
  8. branch — of a tree
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. branch — a division
  12. bowl — a football final
  13. wound — an injury
  14. wind — moving air
  15. bowl — a dish
  16. straw — a straw man
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. wound — an injury
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. tear — to rip
  22. shower — rain
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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