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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. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  3. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. file — a document
  3. game — wild animals
  4. game — a match
  5. ground — a position
  6. ground — crushed
  7. net — for catching
  8. file — a tool
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. stock — shares
  11. stock — goods
  12. net — after costs
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. row — a quarrel
  16. foot — a measure
  17. tear — from crying
  18. file — a line of people
  19. foot — part of the body
  20. ground — the earth
  21. net — in sport
  22. tear — to rip
  23. row — a line
  24. row — to paddle

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