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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  10. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  11. Did you ________________ the button?
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. row — a line
  4. cell — in biology
  5. tear — to rip
  6. cell — a phone
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. tear — from crying
  9. pit — a hole
  10. row — to paddle
  11. press — to push
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. pit — in a race
  16. press — a publisher
  17. press — newspapers
  18. straw — a straw man

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