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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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 · march · tear · fork · pop · row · field · plane

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. tear — to rip
  3. field — farmland
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. shower — rain
  9. plane — a tool
  10. field — a subject
  11. pop — to visit
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. march — music
  14. pop — soda
  15. pop — music
  16. row — a line
  17. march — the month
  18. row — to paddle
  19. march — the month
  20. tear — from crying
  21. tear — from crying
  22. fork — in a road
  23. field — for sport
  24. shower — a meteor shower

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