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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. tear — from crying
  4. hand — help
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. file — a line of people
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. content — the amount
  9. content — happy
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. file — a document
  12. hand — in cards
  13. tear — from crying
  14. net — after costs
  15. net — in sport
  16. tear — to rip
  17. fork — in a road
  18. file — a tool
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. fork — a garden tool
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. net — for catching
  24. bark — to shout

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