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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. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  8. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. cold — not warm
  3. mate — a friend
  4. clip — to cut
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. roll — a cake
  7. firm — a company
  8. firm — decided
  9. mark — a trace
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. mate — a partner
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. mark — to pay attention
  14. clip — a video
  15. tear — from crying
  16. clip — for paper
  17. mate — to breed
  18. firm — steady
  19. roll — a list
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. mark — a grade
  22. tear — from crying
  23. cold — an illness
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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