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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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  23. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. spell — a short time
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. tear — from crying
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. spell — magic
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. rash — a series
  12. tear — from crying
  13. row — to paddle
  14. rash — hasty
  15. row — a line
  16. face — part of the head
  17. object — a thing
  18. spell — letters
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. tear — to rip
  21. face — to confront
  22. object — an aim
  23. object — to protest
  24. face — to point toward

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