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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  4. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. When will it ________________ you to start?
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. tear — to rip
  3. suit — clothes
  4. season — in sport
  5. chest — of your body
  6. cell — a phone
  7. season — of the year
  8. cold — not warm
  9. suit — to fit
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. chest — of your body
  12. wind — moving air
  13. suit — in cards
  14. tear — from crying
  15. tear — from crying
  16. cell — in biology
  17. nail — for a hammer
  18. cold — an illness
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. chest — a box
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. wind — moving air

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