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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. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  15. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  16. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. squash — the vegetable
  3. squash — to crush
  4. swing — in golf
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. squash — the sport
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. cold — not warm
  10. key — in music
  11. tear — from crying
  12. swing — to play on
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. chair — a leader
  15. key — the most important part
  16. chair — a professorship
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. key — for a lock
  19. bat — the animal
  20. cold — an illness
  21. swing — music
  22. tear — from crying
  23. perch — the fish
  24. perch — for a bird

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