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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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. He is an ace ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. tear — to rip
  3. chest — of your body
  4. bound — tied together
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. pitcher — in baseball
  7. chest — a box
  8. tear — from crying
  9. chest — of your body
  10. prune — to trim
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. squash — the sport
  13. bound — obliged
  14. bound — certain
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — an illness
  17. tear — from crying
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. prune — to trim
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. cold — not warm
  22. lash — to lash out
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. squash — to crush

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