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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.

Words on the sheet
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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 · spring · chest · bore · season · pound · shower · tear

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. game — wild animals
  3. shower — to wash
  4. bore — to tire
  5. spring — of water
  6. season — of the year
  7. tear — to rip
  8. tear — from crying
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. season — in sport
  12. chest — of your body
  13. shower — a meteor shower
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. bore — to drill
  16. spring — the season
  17. spring — a coil
  18. game — a match
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. chest — a box
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. pound — a weight
  23. chest — of your body
  24. shower — rain

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