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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  21. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  22. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  23. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. degree — an amount
  3. wound — an injury
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. tear — from crying
  6. craft — a handicraft
  7. spring — a coil
  8. wound — an injury
  9. degree — from a university
  10. craft — boats
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. spring — of water
  13. root — the cause
  14. tear — to rip
  15. spring — the season
  16. hide — animal skin
  17. degree — temperature
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. root — of a word
  20. craft — a skill
  21. fan — to cool the air
  22. fan — a supporter
  23. root — of a plant
  24. tear — from crying

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