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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 124 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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. The ________________ went through the wall.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  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. wake — before a funeral
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. cold — not warm
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. nail — for a hammer
  6. tear — from crying
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. nail — on a finger
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. cold — an illness
  14. rush — hurry
  15. drill — army training
  16. nail — for a hammer
  17. band — a ring
  18. drill — the tool
  19. wake — a trail
  20. drill — a practice
  21. tear — from crying
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. band — a music group
  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