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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  8. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. object — to protest
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. tear — from crying
  7. clip — a video
  8. object — an aim
  9. shower — rain
  10. tear — from crying
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. face — to confront
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. face — to point toward
  15. tear — to rip
  16. clip — to cut
  17. bore — to tire
  18. bore — to drill
  19. shower — to wash
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. face — part of the head
  22. bat — the animal
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. object — a thing

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