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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. rule — a law
  3. branch — a division
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. cold — an illness
  6. tear — to rip
  7. drill — army training
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. game — a match
  10. bat — the animal
  11. rule — government
  12. tear — from crying
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. drill — the tool
  17. drill — a practice
  18. date — the fruit
  19. tear — from crying
  20. game — wild animals
  21. bat — for baseball
  22. cold — not warm
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. branch — of a tree

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