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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. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. fall — to drop
  3. tear — from crying
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. swing — music
  7. swing — to play on
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. game — a match
  10. wound — an injury
  11. wound — an injury
  12. game — wild animals
  13. tear — from crying
  14. swing — in golf
  15. hand — help
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. hand — in cards
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. kid — to tease
  20. fall — to drop
  21. chair — a leader
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. kid — child
  24. fall — the season

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