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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: shower · capital · last · mine · fork · ruler · tear · leaves

  1. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  11. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. fork — a garden tool
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. leaves — to go away
  5. capital — money
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. last — final
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. mine — for digging
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. leaves — of a tree
  12. tear — to rip
  13. last — finally
  14. tear — from crying
  15. capital — a city
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. ruler — a monarch
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. tear — from crying
  21. shower — rain
  22. shower — to wash
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. fork — in a road

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