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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. The water is too ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. cold — not warm
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. rule — to rule out
  5. hand — help
  6. hand — in cards
  7. ground — a position
  8. spring — a coil
  9. tear — from crying
  10. branch — a division
  11. tear — from crying
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. mark — a grade
  14. rule — government
  15. mark — a trace
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. cold — an illness
  18. rule — a law
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. ground — crushed
  21. spring — the season
  22. ground — the earth
  23. mark — to pay attention
  24. spring — of water

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