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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. snap — to click
  3. tear — to rip
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. tear — from crying
  6. prune — to trim
  7. track — to keep track
  8. cell — a phone
  9. track — a song
  10. cell — in biology
  11. track — a path
  12. prune — to trim
  13. hand — help
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. hand — in cards
  18. snap — to speak sharply

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