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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Have you met the new head ________________?
  11. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. cold — an illness
  3. tear — to rip
  4. scale — in music
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. court — of law
  8. fall — the season
  9. tear — from crying
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. fall — to drop
  12. fall — to drop
  13. swing — in golf
  14. scale — size or range
  15. snap — to click
  16. court — of a king
  17. court — for sport
  18. swing — to play on
  19. cold — not warm
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. snap — to snap out of it
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. swing — music
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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