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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. snap — to click
  3. chip — in a computer
  4. chest — of your body
  5. chest — of your body
  6. tear — from crying
  7. scale — size or range
  8. rule — government
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. rule — a law
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. wake — to stop sleeping
  16. chip — to eat
  17. chip — for betting
  18. band — a music group
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. tear — to rip
  21. wake — a trail
  22. chest — a box
  23. band — a ring
  24. scale — in music

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