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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'd like to play a game of ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the sport
  2. land — to come down
  3. tear — from crying
  4. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  5. land — ground
  6. clip — for paper
  7. spring — of water
  8. kid — to tease
  9. pass — to succeed
  10. file — a document
  11. pass — a permit
  12. kid — child
  13. clip — a video
  14. file — a line of people
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. pass — to spend time
  17. file — a tool
  18. clip — to cut
  19. tear — from crying
  20. squash — to crush
  21. spring — the season
  22. land — a country
  23. spring — a coil
  24. tear — to rip

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