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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: bound · chest · perch · jam · row · tear · shower · leaves

  1. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. jam — to spread on bread
  3. perch — the fish
  4. bound — certain
  5. bound — tied together
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. chest — a box
  8. tear — from crying
  9. tear — to rip
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. tear — from crying
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. chest — of your body
  14. bound — obliged
  15. row — to paddle
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. leaves — to go away
  18. chest — of your body
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. jam — in traffic
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. row — a line
  23. jam — a tight spot
  24. shower — rain

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