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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 120 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 farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  5. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. My father caught me by the ________________.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. There's no middle ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. patient — calm and waiting
  3. content — happy
  4. content — the amount
  5. arm — part of the body
  6. ground — crushed
  7. craft — a handicraft
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. kid — to tease
  10. craft — a skill
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. shower — rain
  13. arm — a part of something
  14. kid — child
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. arm — part of the body
  18. shower — to wash
  19. tear — from crying
  20. ground — a position
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. tear — from crying
  23. craft — boats
  24. ground — the earth

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