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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 116 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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. net — in sport
  3. net — for catching
  4. net — after costs
  5. track — a song
  6. shower — to wash
  7. key — in music
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. tear — from crying
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. race — a contest
  12. key — the most important part
  13. track — a path
  14. prune — to trim
  15. race — humankind
  16. tear — to rip
  17. key — for a lock
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. kid — to tease
  20. prune — to trim
  21. kid — child
  22. shower — rain
  23. race — the arms race
  24. track — to keep track

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