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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  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. bass — the instrument
  3. spring — a coil
  4. content — happy
  5. fall — to drop
  6. file — a tool
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. content — the amount
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. file — a document
  11. bass — low music
  12. perch — the fish
  13. bass — the fish
  14. snap — to click
  15. tear — from crying
  16. tear — to rip
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. spring — of water
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. fall — to drop
  21. spring — the season
  22. fall — the season
  23. perch — for a bird
  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