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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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. last — final
  3. last — to go on
  4. court — of law
  5. fine — high quality
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. row — to paddle
  8. tear — to rip
  9. last — finally
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. fine — all right
  13. court — of a king
  14. fine — a penalty
  15. pit — a hole
  16. row — a line
  17. wind — moving air
  18. wind — moving air
  19. wound — an injury
  20. tear — from crying
  21. wound — an injury
  22. court — for sport
  23. pit — in a race
  24. wind — to turn a key

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