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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. craft — a skill
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. degree — from a university
  5. fall — to drop
  6. tear — from crying
  7. scale — for weighing
  8. degree — temperature
  9. lie — an untruth
  10. degree — an amount
  11. craft — boats
  12. row — a line
  13. fall — the season
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. row — to paddle
  16. scale — in music
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. scale — size or range
  19. capital — a city
  20. capital — money
  21. tear — to rip
  22. lie — to recline
  23. fall — to drop
  24. lie — an untruth

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