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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 120 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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  15. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. track — a song
  3. clip — to cut
  4. tear — to rip
  5. band — a ring
  6. clip — for paper
  7. root — of a plant
  8. row — a line
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. mouse — the animal
  11. tear — from crying
  12. row — to paddle
  13. clip — a video
  14. mouse — for a computer
  15. track — to keep track
  16. file — a document
  17. file — a tool
  18. track — a path
  19. root — of a word
  20. mouse — the animal
  21. band — a music group
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. root — the cause
  24. file — a line of people

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