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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. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  3. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. It's one o'clock ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. The people resisted their cruel ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. straw — dry grass
  3. ruler — for measuring
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. present — there
  9. present — a gift
  10. capital — a city
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. tear — to rip
  13. present — the time now
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. tear — from crying
  17. sharp — clever
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. sharp — exactly
  21. capital — money
  22. straw — to clutch at straws
  23. mine — for digging
  24. ruler — a monarch

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