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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: swing · court · pound · tear · shower · roll · wax · rest

  1. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The ball is in your ________________.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  17. We're on a ________________ here.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. tear — from crying
  3. court — for sport
  4. rest — a break
  5. pound — a weight
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. tear — from crying
  9. court — of law
  10. rest — what's left
  11. wax — to grow
  12. tear — to rip
  13. rest — what's left
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. roll — a list
  16. swing — in golf
  17. roll — on a roll
  18. swing — to play on
  19. shower — rain
  20. wax — for sculpting
  21. shower — to wash
  22. swing — music
  23. court — of a king
  24. pound — for dogs

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