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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 strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  24. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. cold — not warm
  3. tear — from crying
  4. perch — the fish
  5. rule — to rule out
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. rule — government
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. root — of a plant
  11. cold — an illness
  12. key — the most important part
  13. tear — to rip
  14. tear — from crying
  15. perch — for a bird
  16. key — for a lock
  17. root — the cause
  18. date — the fruit
  19. root — of a word
  20. key — in music
  21. perch — for a bird
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. wind — moving air
  24. rule — a law

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