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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. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. That must've been a ________________.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. David sat on the ________________.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. swing — in golf
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. tear — from crying
  5. mate — to breed
  6. tear — to rip
  7. chest — of your body
  8. rush — a thrill
  9. lean — to bend
  10. wind — moving air
  11. swing — to play on
  12. bat — the animal
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. chest — a box
  16. tear — from crying
  17. lean — thin
  18. mate — a partner
  19. mate — a friend
  20. chest — of your body
  21. wind — moving air
  22. rush — to hurry
  23. swing — music
  24. bat — in an idiom

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