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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 124 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. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  22. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. Let us try to swim against the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. track — to keep track
  3. tear — from crying
  4. current — happening now
  5. clip — to cut
  6. mine — belonging to me
  7. bound — certain
  8. mate — a friend
  9. mine — for digging
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. clip — for paper
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. tear — to rip
  14. cold — not warm
  15. track — a song
  16. track — a path
  17. clip — a video
  18. mate — a partner
  19. cold — an illness
  20. mate — to breed
  21. bound — obliged
  22. current — electric
  23. bound — tied together
  24. current — of water

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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