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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: shower · drill · spring · wave · wound · tear · mate · stick

  1. Have you found your soul ________________?
  2. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  20. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — a partner
  2. drill — army training
  3. tear — from crying
  4. tear — to rip
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. spring — of water
  7. mate — a friend
  8. tear — from crying
  9. spring — a coil
  10. shower — rain
  11. wound — an injury
  12. drill — the tool
  13. mate — to breed
  14. shower — to wash
  15. shower — a meteor shower
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. wave — with your hand
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. wave — a sudden rise
  21. wound — an injury
  22. spring — the season
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. drill — a practice

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