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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: content · hand · shower · patient · straw · rush · capital · tear

  1. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. patient — a sick person
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. shower — to wash
  9. content — happy
  10. rush — hurry
  11. capital — money
  12. hand — in cards
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. content — the amount
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. shower — rain
  17. tear — to rip
  18. capital — a city
  19. hand — help
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. tear — from crying
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. tear — from crying

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