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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. How do you ________________ your surname?
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. last — to go on
  3. tear — from crying
  4. lash — to lash out
  5. field — for sport
  6. vault — a safe
  7. clip — for paper
  8. last — final
  9. field — a subject
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. field — farmland
  12. rash — hasty
  13. rash — a series
  14. lash — a whip stroke
  15. clip — to cut
  16. spell — letters
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. tear — to rip
  19. spell — a short time
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. spell — magic
  22. last — finally
  23. clip — a video
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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