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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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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: game · shower · content · bat · leaves · mine · tear · fine

  1. That was a fun ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Check the label for the sugar ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. content — videos and posts
  4. tear — from crying
  5. mine — for digging
  6. tear — to rip
  7. shower — to wash
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. fine — a penalty
  10. game — wild animals
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. shower — rain
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. tear — from crying
  15. leaves — lets stay
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. content — happy
  18. fine — high quality
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. fine — all right
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. leaves — to go away
  23. bat — the animal
  24. content — the amount

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