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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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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 · trunk · board · tear · march · current · file · ground

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  20. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. ground — a position
  3. march — the month
  4. shower — rain
  5. board — to get on
  6. march — music
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. shower — to wash
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. board — a flat piece
  11. tear — to rip
  12. file — a document
  13. tear — from crying
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. current — of water
  16. ground — crushed
  17. ground — the earth
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. current — electric
  20. current — happening now
  21. file — a line of people
  22. board — a committee
  23. tear — from crying
  24. march — the month

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