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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 116 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. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  13. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  22. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. bark — to shout
  3. race — humankind
  4. degree — an amount
  5. tear — to rip
  6. land — ground
  7. net — for catching
  8. land — a country
  9. tear — from crying
  10. cue — a hint
  11. degree — from a university
  12. bark — of a tree
  13. cue — a signal
  14. degree — temperature
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. net — after costs
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. kid — child
  19. race — the arms race
  20. kid — to tease
  21. cue — for pool
  22. race — a contest
  23. net — in sport
  24. land — to come down

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