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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. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  7. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — government
  2. bat — the animal
  3. rule — a law
  4. fall — to drop
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. bat — in an idiom
  7. fall — to drop
  8. tear — to rip
  9. wound — an injury
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. tear — from crying
  12. season — of the year
  13. tear — from crying
  14. fall — the season
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. wound — an injury
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. season — in sport

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