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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  10. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  11. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  21. Have you found your soul ________________?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. cap — a hat
  3. tear — to rip
  4. track — to keep track
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. perch — the fish
  7. mate — to breed
  8. spell — letters
  9. track — a song
  10. track — a path
  11. cap — a lid
  12. spell — magic
  13. cold — an illness
  14. mate — a friend
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. trunk — of a car
  17. spell — a short time
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cap — of ice
  20. trunk — of an elephant
  21. mate — a partner
  22. cold — not warm
  23. tear — from crying
  24. perch — for a bird

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