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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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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. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. tear — to rip
  3. swing — to play on
  4. hand — in cards
  5. fall — the season
  6. fall — to drop
  7. tear — from crying
  8. hand — help
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. fall — to drop
  11. swing — in golf
  12. tear — from crying
  13. swing — music
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. scale — in music
  16. dip — to sink
  17. scale — size or range
  18. dip — to dunk

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