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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 116 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. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. tear — from crying
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. wave — a sudden rise
  5. file — a line of people
  6. file — a document
  7. spell — letters
  8. spring — the season
  9. court — for sport
  10. court — of law
  11. wave — of the sea
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. spring — a coil
  14. wave — with your hand
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — to rip
  17. spell — magic
  18. spring — of water
  19. kid — child
  20. capital — a city
  21. capital — money
  22. court — of a king
  23. kid — to tease
  24. spell — a short time

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