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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. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  6. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  9. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  15. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. ball — a dance
  3. cap — a lid
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. scale — size or range
  6. file — a tool
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. present — a gift
  9. dip — to dunk
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. file — a line of people
  12. file — a document
  13. band — a ring
  14. present — there
  15. dip — to sink
  16. present — the time now
  17. tear — from crying
  18. tear — to rip
  19. cap — of ice
  20. ball — a great time
  21. band — a music group
  22. cap — a hat
  23. scale — in music
  24. band — a rubber band

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