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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. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. This piece is in a major ________________.
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — for dogs
  2. row — a line
  3. tear — from crying
  4. key — for a lock
  5. snap — to click
  6. key — in music
  7. key — the most important part
  8. bat — the animal
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. tear — to rip
  11. kid — child
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. pound — a weight
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. tear — from crying
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. race — humankind
  18. race — a contest
  19. kid — to tease
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. race — the arms race
  22. snap — to snap out of it
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. row — to paddle

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