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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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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: march · tear · mate · perch · shower · drill · squash · clip

  1. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  2. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — a meteor shower
  2. mate — a friend
  3. shower — rain
  4. mate — a partner
  5. mate — to breed
  6. drill — army training
  7. tear — from crying
  8. squash — the sport
  9. tear — to rip
  10. march — the month
  11. tear — from crying
  12. perch — the fish
  13. clip — a video
  14. drill — a practice
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. shower — to wash
  17. march — the month
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. clip — for paper
  20. clip — to cut
  21. squash — to crush
  22. march — music
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. drill — the tool

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