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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. Don't do anything ________________.
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  7. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  17. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  18. The ________________ market has crashed.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. rash — hasty
  3. pass — a permit
  4. wax — for sculpting
  5. cold — an illness
  6. pass — to succeed
  7. pass — to spend time
  8. tear — to rip
  9. file — a document
  10. court — of law
  11. rash — a series
  12. court — of a king
  13. cold — not warm
  14. stock — goods
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. wax — to grow
  17. file — a line of people
  18. stock — shares
  19. file — a tool
  20. tear — from crying
  21. court — for sport
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. wax — in the ear

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