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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  13. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  22. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. tear — to rip
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. tear — from crying
  5. bound — obliged
  6. pound — for dogs
  7. bound — tied together
  8. mine — for digging
  9. bore — to tire
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. tear — from crying
  12. leaves — to go away
  13. bore — gave birth
  14. kid — child
  15. pound — a weight
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. clip — for paper
  19. clip — a video
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. bore — to drill
  22. leaves — lets stay
  23. bound — certain
  24. clip — to cut

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