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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. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  7. She's very handy with a ________________.
  8. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  9. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. squash — the sport
  3. hide — to keep secret
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. chest — of your body
  6. dip — to sink
  7. saw — the tool
  8. chest — of your body
  9. cap — a lid
  10. tear — to rip
  11. dip — to dunk
  12. wound — an injury
  13. saw — the tool
  14. chest — a box
  15. wound — past of 'wind'
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. wound — an injury
  20. cap — a hat
  21. squash — to crush
  22. cap — of ice
  23. tear — from crying
  24. hide — animal skin

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