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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  10. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  11. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. cue — a hint
  3. scale — in music
  4. cell — in biology
  5. cue — a signal
  6. tear — to rip
  7. cold — not warm
  8. tear — from crying
  9. cue — for pool
  10. plane — a tool
  11. plane — in geometry
  12. cell — a phone
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. scale — size or range
  15. cold — an illness
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. plane — an aircraft

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