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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. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  8. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. craft — a skill
  3. craft — boats
  4. perch — the fish
  5. tear — from crying
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. stock — a soup base
  8. hand — part of the body
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. cold — not warm
  11. spring — of water
  12. hand — in cards
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. cold — an illness
  15. hand — help
  16. stock — shares
  17. stock — goods
  18. spring — the season
  19. trunk — of a tree
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. spring — a coil
  24. tear — from crying

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