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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. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — to rule out
  2. land — ground
  3. land — to come down
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. date — the fruit
  7. land — a country
  8. row — a line
  9. march — music
  10. tear — from crying
  11. bark — a dog's sound
  12. row — to paddle
  13. cold — not warm
  14. rule — a law
  15. tear — from crying
  16. rule — government
  17. march — the month
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. bark — to shout
  20. cold — an illness
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. march — the month
  23. tear — to rip
  24. bark — 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