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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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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 · swing · pound · bat · calf · lean · snap · tear

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. tear — to rip
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. lean — to bend
  5. swing — to play on
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. snap — to click
  9. swing — music
  10. swing — in golf
  11. tear — from crying
  12. pound — for dogs
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. tear — from crying
  15. bat — the animal
  16. calf — of the leg
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. pound — a weight
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — to wash
  23. calf — a young animal
  24. bat — in an idiom

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