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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. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  6. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tear — from crying
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. leaves — lets stay
  6. present — the time now
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. cold — an illness
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. rush — hurry
  11. degree — an amount
  12. present — a gift
  13. cold — not warm
  14. kid — child
  15. degree — from a university
  16. present — there
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. leaves — of a tree
  19. degree — temperature
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. leaves — to go away
  23. kid — to tease
  24. tear — to rip

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