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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 116 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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  8. The tickets are free of ________________.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. I'll be taking the ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Where can I ________________ my mobile?

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. track — a path
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. cold — an illness
  5. march — the month
  6. sharp — clever
  7. charge — in control
  8. charge — a price
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. march — the month
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. tube — a container
  15. cold — not warm
  16. tear — from crying
  17. capital — a city
  18. track — to keep track
  19. track — a song
  20. tube — the underground
  21. capital — money
  22. march — music
  23. tear — to rip
  24. charge — electricity

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