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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  6. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  9. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. The tickets are free of ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. squash — to crush
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. tear — to rip
  5. charge — electricity
  6. squash — the sport
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. squash — the vegetable
  9. charge — in control
  10. tear — from crying
  11. hand — in cards
  12. hand — help
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. court — of a king
  15. ground — the earth
  16. court — of law
  17. file — a document
  18. ground — a position
  19. court — for sport
  20. ground — crushed
  21. charge — a price
  22. file — a line of people
  23. bat — the animal
  24. file — a tool

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