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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 120 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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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: shower · foot · mouse · bark · tear · march · cold · plane

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  7. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  8. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  18. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. cold — an illness
  3. shower — rain
  4. tear — from crying
  5. tear — from crying
  6. plane — in geometry
  7. mouse — for a computer
  8. foot — a measure
  9. march — music
  10. cold — not warm
  11. plane — a tool
  12. shower — to wash
  13. bark — to shout
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. march — the month
  17. foot — part of the body
  18. mouse — the animal
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. tear — to rip
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. march — the month
  24. cold — the Cold War

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