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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. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. dip — a sauce
  2. tear — from crying
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. present — there
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. tear — to rip
  8. mine — for digging
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. bat — in an idiom
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. dip — to sink
  14. bat — the animal
  15. stick — to attach or keep to
  16. tear — from crying
  17. season — of the year
  18. present — a gift
  19. season — in sport
  20. present — the time now
  21. wind — moving air
  22. stick — a piece of wood
  23. wind — moving air
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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