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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. track — to keep track
  3. face — to confront
  4. spell — a short time
  5. content — happy
  6. spell — letters
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. saw — the tool
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. tear — to rip
  12. content — the amount
  13. tear — from crying
  14. spring — the season
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. spring — of water
  17. track — a path
  18. spell — magic
  19. track — a song
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. saw — the tool
  22. face — part of the head
  23. face — to point toward
  24. spring — a coil

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