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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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. tear — from crying
  3. cold — not warm
  4. rash — on the skin
  5. tear — to rip
  6. fork — a garden tool
  7. rash — hasty
  8. file — a line of people
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. file — a tool
  11. rash — a series
  12. scale — in music
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. tear — from crying
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. scale — size or range
  17. file — a document
  18. rush — hurry
  19. fork — in a road
  20. lash — an eyelash
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. rush — to hurry
  24. cold — an illness

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