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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: face · season · shower · mark · wound · tear · tube · cell

  1. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  9. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. Did you ________________ the meat?
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — to pay attention
  2. shower — to wash
  3. tube — in a tire
  4. face — to point toward
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. season — of the year
  7. face — part of the head
  8. tube — a container
  9. shower — a meteor shower
  10. tear — from crying
  11. mark — a trace
  12. cell — in biology
  13. shower — rain
  14. season — to add flavour
  15. cell — a phone
  16. tube — the underground
  17. tear — from crying
  18. wound — an injury
  19. mark — a grade
  20. wound — an injury
  21. face — to confront
  22. tear — to rip
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. season — in sport

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