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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: wind · tear · file · land · mine · cap · game · shower

  1. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  13. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  14. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a document
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. mine — for digging
  4. tear — from crying
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. tear — from crying
  8. land — to come down
  9. file — a line of people
  10. wind — moving air
  11. game — a match
  12. cap — a hat
  13. shower — rain
  14. shower — to wash
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. file — a tool
  17. land — ground
  18. cap — a lid
  19. wind — moving air
  20. game — wild animals
  21. tear — to rip
  22. cap — of ice
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. land — a country

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